A Storm of Lies
by AlexMontgomery
Summary: Gale hated the eternal night of Traverse Town, she wanted to see the sun again, she wanted to see the World. When news of a boy who will restore the worlds from darkness, Gale is determined to go along on the adventure with him. Even if she needs to lie about her circumstances. Surely, Gale can keep up this façade. Rated - T
1. Chapter One

_Gale hated the eternal night of Traverse Town, she wanted to see the sun again, she wanted to see the World. When news of a boy who will restore the worlds from darkness, Gale is determined to go along on the adventure with him. Even if she needs to lie about her circumstances. Surely, Gale can keep up this façade._

Kingdom Hearts © Square Enix, Disney Interactive Studios  
>Final Fantasy © Square Enix<br>Disney works and properties © Walt Disney Company  
>Storm of Lies and its characters and concepts © AlexMontgomery<p>

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter One<br>****The Life I Lead**

_I've been having these weird thoughts lately  
><em>_like is any of this for real or not?_

She clung to her fathers shoulder as he carried her across town. The wind had picked up, the clouds were inky black; black as the creatures that tore the town to shreds. Her father ran to the pilots lot, where he built spaceship, and flying machines. All of which had never left the ground. But he had heard that the pilot was using them as safe houses. But the creatures could have gotten to them.

"Is anyone here?!" her father shouted over the wind. "Anyone?! Please! I just need to get my daughter to safety!"

A loud, creaky moan was heard as one of the doors to the ships was forced opened. A blond man, still in his work clothes, and a twelve-year-old brunette girl stood in the door frame. "There's enough room in here for the both of you!" the blond man, Cid, shouted over the wind.

"Thank you," her father said, lifting her into the doorway. The brown haired girl, Aerith, took the little girl by her underarms to help her inside. "But I'm needed elsewhere."

"No!" she shouted, grabbing onto her fathers sleeves. New tears slipped out of her eyes, just when she thought she was all cried out. "Don't go!"

"I'll be back," her father assured her. "I'll be back."

Aerith pulled her inside, and Cid closed the door; locking her father outside. The inside of the ship was filled with people huddled on the floor. Some were murmuring to each other, some were trying to keep themselves under control. Aerith lead her to a corner of the room where Yuffie was waiting for them. Yuffie was amongst those trying to keep their emotions under control, unlike the little girl who was sniffling and hiccupping on sobs.

Aerith sat between the two girls, allowing the little girl to cry into her chest, as she rubbed Yuffie's back. It was all Aerith could do to keep from breaking herself. Her mother was attacked by the black creatures, and she urged Aerith to save herself. Leaving her mother behind was something Aerith hated to do.

Minutes ticked by, debris banged against the outside of the ship. The little girl nearly fell asleep, but was startled awake by someone shouting for Cid outside. Immediately the pilot threw the door opened, and helped a fifteen-year-old brown haired boy inside. Blood dripped down his face from the fresh wound between his eyes. "Squall!" gasped Aerith. She hurried to Squall's side, with a medical kit in her hand. Yuffie finally broke down into sobs while Aerith dabbed Squall's face clean of blood with a dry rag. "Squall, where's Cloud?"

"I don't…" Squall batted Aerith's hand away. "I don't know…"

"What do you mean you don't know?" questioned Aerith.

"I don't know!" snapped Squall. "We were just… and then… Damn it!"

He punched the wall, prompting more sobs from Yuffie. The little girl placed her hands over her ears with her eyes squeezed shut. Why couldn't this be just a nightmare? A terrible, horrible nightmare. "Squall, please!" chided Aerith.

"Don't call me that!"

"So what should I call you?!" Aerith snapped back. He didn't reply. "Well, until you've decided on something, Squall it is."

That shut him up. He did not put up a fuss as Aerith continued to clean his injury. At a most, he flinched a few times when she disinfected it. Finally Aerith tossed the damp rag onto the floor beside the disinfectant. She murmured something about the wound being deep, and would probably leave a scar, but Squall seemed uncaring.

As Aerith got out a long bandage strip, the ship jerked violently to the side before Aerith could dress the wound. The jerking continued, people started screaming over Cid, who was yelling for everyone to calm down.

This was it, they were all going to die, weren't they? This was really the end.

The ship jerked forward, and she felt herself be thrown back against the wall. Only she never hit it.

She was falling, head first into a dark abyss as her body aged by nearly ten years. No longer so young, but in her early to mid teens. She felt strangely calm. Her eyes cracked open ever so slightly, just before she felt herself be flipped over. She landed safely, upright on her feet. Before she had the chance to react, a blinding white light emitted from the floor she stood on.

When it died down, she found herself standing on a platform that had a stain glass feel to it. It was light green with the image of a girl in a yellow and blue dress with red accents around the sleeves. She looked from side to side, wondering what she should do. Then, finally, three lights appeared in front of her. Red, blue, and green.

_The power sleeps within you, but you must give it shape._

_Which path do you choose?_

_The path of the warrior; invincible courage, and terrible destruction. The path of the mystic; one of inner strength, wonders, and ruin. Or perhaps, the path of the guardian; one of kindness to aid your friends, like a shield to repel all._

_Choose wisely._

She stared at the three lights with one hand balled up in front of her mouth. Gulping, she took a step forward, her hand wrapped around the red light; the power of the warrior. The power of courage and destruction; after all, without destruction, there was no creation.

In a flash, the blue and green lights blinked out. The red light in her hand circled around her, as though it were giving her acknowledgement, or a blessing.

_You have chosen the path of the warrior. You've gained the power to fight. Use this power to protect yourself and others. There will be times where fighting is your only option._

_But don't be afraid._

Without warning, the platform beneath her feet shattered. She fell, but still did not panic, which seemed a bit strange to her. She was very much confused, with little to no idea what was going on, yet she was still calm. Under normal circumstances, she was pretty sure she would be having a panic attack by now.

She landed safely on a blue and purple platform with the image of a young woman in a silvery-grey ball gown embedded on the surface. Out of the darkness, two lights floated in front of her. Green and blue.

_However, something cannot be gained without something given up in exchange. What do you give up in exchange for the power you've crafted?_

She looked from the green light to the blue. What does that mean for the one she doesn't give up? Walking up to the green light, she wrapped her hand around it. The light grew in intensity, until it vanished from her hand all together.

_You have chosen the path of the warrior; you have given up the path of the guardian. There was no right or wrong answer, only your answer._

A dark substance suddenly filled the platform; she sank in up to her knees. Taking a few deep breaths in, she hugged herself, willing herself to wake up. Just wake up. Wake up, wake up, _wake up!_

Only she did not wake up.

Her eyes only snapped open when she felt something solid against her cheek. She was laying on a pink platform with three hearts on the glass surface. In those hearts where the silhouettes of three feminine figures. Slowly, she pulled herself onto her knees.

As she rose to her feet, a red light appeared before her, and a sword with a yellow hilt appeared in her dominate hand.

She nearly jumped back when three inky black creatures appeared in front of her. She was very familiar with these creatures. 'Impish' was the right word to describe them. Their heads were round, with glowing yellow eyes and a pair of antennas sprouting from their heads.

Her hands gripped tightly around the sword, and she broke forward, bashing the blade upside the creatures heads. One their limits were met, they twitched slightly as they fell back and disappeared into a black and purple haze. Was that it? Were they gone?

She wiped her brow with the back of her hand after a while and no more creatures showed up.

_There will come a time when fighting is your only option, and there will come consequences. Don't lose sight of who your are, and don't lose sight of the light._

_But, at the same time, be warned…_

She suddenly found herself standing on an orange stain glass platform. There was a blonde woman in a blue dress, sleeping amongst a thorn bush depicted on the glass' surface.

A staircase made of multi colored glass appeared in front of her. She ran up, traveling to the next platform; she felt grateful to be moving to the next destination herself this time around. The next platform bore the image of a brown haired woman in a yellow ball gown with a silhouetted creature depicted behind her.

_The closer you are to the light; the greater your shadow._

She looked behind her to find a towering, black creature. She knew what it was, but her hatred for it was replaced with fear. She slowly walked backwards until she came to the edge of the platform. The staircase was gone, there was no where to run.

She was trapped.

_Don't be afraid._

She screamed in pain, her hands clutched onto her heart as she crouched down, trying to breathe. Her chest hurt with such a sharp pain, she was pretty sure she was seeing white. But the pain would not stop.

_Your heart will be your mightiest weapon._

_You will see the light within the darkness._

The floor beneath her suddenly vanished. She fell, head first into the vast abyss.

"… _ale… Ga… Gale!"_

The back of her head hit against the floor, while her book slid down her abdomen, the spine smacked her right in the nose. She heard a chorus of laughter at her side. Someone lifted the book from her face and studied her with a slightly worried expression. Gale was met with the face of a woman in her early twenties, brown bangs framed the woman's face, and her green eyes met with Gale's own green ones.

"Yuffie, it's not funny!" the brown haired woman snapped at a black haired girl. The girl was just a year older than Gale. She had short black hair, dressed in a green top, yellow scarf, short shorts, and white stockings. Her purple eyes were currently closed in the mitts of her fit of laughter.

"It's a _little_ funny," Yuffie said, holding her thumb and forefinger an inch away from each other. "Come on, Aerith, no harm, no foul. Right, Gale?"

"No," Gale replied dully.

Gale straightened her legs out before she rolled onto her knees. Slowly getting onto her feet, Gale rubbed the back of her head. It didn't necessarily hurt, but the bump felt like it rattled her brain. "Are you okay, Gale?" Aerith asked her as she handed Gale her book. "You kind of rocketed up before you hit the floor."

"Yeah," nodded Gale. "It's just… not like me to doze off while reading, I guess."

"Really?" Yuffie asked a mock surprise. "Given how late you usually stay up reading."

"Okay, okay, fair enough," Gale said, puffing her cheeks out. Late night reading was not anything new to her, but falling asleep in the middle of the day was.

She was nothing short of a bookworm, so while Aerith and Yuffie discussed things with Leon, Gale was curled up on the couch with a book or two. There really wasn't much to do when going outside could be potentially dangerous. So, Gale really didn't have much else to do during summer break; and she was only three days in. Which was why Gale found herself a spot in the hotel, and made herself comfortable.

"What else do you suggest I do?" Gale asked through a heavy yawn.

"I dunno, what do you usually do?" Yuffie asked.

"Read."

"And here's where we start digging," sighed Yuffie.

Sighing, Gale pushed her bangs back. Looks like she was in for a long summer break. "Well," Aerith said, getting a wicker basket off the coffee table, she handed it to Gale. She noticed a slip of paper inside; a list no doubt. "You can get a few groceries for me."

"Ah, what?" whined Gale.

"Yuffie does have a point, Gale," said Aerith. "Just because you're on summer break, doesn't mean you should spend your summer inside."

"So shouldn't Yuffie be doing the same thing?" asked Gale.

"Hey, I've been circling the town for Heartless all week, and after school, too," Yuffie argued with her hands on her hips.

Aerith assured her that there wasn't that much to get on the list. But what had Gale sold was that she was allowed to go to the book shop after she got the groceries. After. So, Gale ultimately got her retractable boomerang and pocketed it. She stood at the door with the wicker basket hooked onto her arm while Aerith rattled on about proper safety when traveling to the First District. It wasn't anything Gale hadn't heard before, it got a bit grading after a while.

This was her life. Going to school, and staying inside; reading. Gale couldn't go outside much without risking a Heartless attack, even when she went to and from school she needed to take her boomerang with her. It got to the point where the Heartless weren't that much of an issue. They were a nuisance if anything else. But there wasn't much to look forward to outside either. In Traverse Town, it was always night, the sun never shinned. It was kind of gloomy.

It wasn't always like this. Gale had some memories of her homeworld. A world where the sun rose and set. A world that was just beautiful. But they were so vague now; Gale was six years old when they arrived in Traverse Town. But what Gale could remember, as clear as day, was that there were other worlds out there. Worlds that were probably warm and welcoming. Worlds that were better than Traverse Town. "You know what I want to do over break?" Gale asked, cutting Aerith off. "I want an adventure. I want to get out of Traverse Town."

The way Aerith and Yuffie stared at her almost made Gale think she spontaneously turned purple for some reason. Gale, the reader, wanted an adventure this summer? They lived in a world where they couldn't go outside just for a stroll. They needed some form of weaponry on them or risk a Heartless attack. "Uh… Gale," Yuffie cleared her throat. She rose her pointer finger, as though she were making a point. "Did you forget where we live? You know, Heartless roaming around, gotta be armed, and it's recommended to travel in a group at times. And yet, you still say that?"

"I know," Gale said, crossing her arms. She tried to avoid eye contact with Yuffie and Aerith. "But the thing is, Heartless are a _chore_, not a real danger." Unfolding her left arm, Gale tossed her hand to the side, with her index finger erect. "If you're faced with them long enough, you know their behaviors, and they're hardly a challenge. So-"

Immediately, Aerith cut her off by placing a finger on Gale's lips. "Okay, yes," she said. "You do have a point, Gale, but you know very well that leaving is not happening."

Yuffie nodded grimly, the thought crossed her mind more than once over the years. "It's better off if you stick with your books."

"But the World is out there," Gale pointed out the window. "Don't get me wrong, I'll read until my eyes dry out, but the World is not on those pages. Nor is it in Traverse Town, it's out-"

"Gale!" Aerith cut her off again, this time she held her hand up to silence her. "There's nothing we can do. If you want to leave town, you need transportation, and Cid sold the scrap metal of his ships for munny to help the refugees. They're gone, Gale. Where did this even come from?"

Suddenly, Gale wanted to lash out right then and there. She wanted to smack Aerith and Yuffie in the face. She wanted to start kicking and screaming.

Gale just did not understand it. How could anyone find solace in living here when there were countless worlds to explore? How could they just stay in a town shrouded by an everlasting night? Gale refused to believe that she was the only one in Traverse Town who longed to see the sun again. She could not be the only one who missed the warmth of summer. Heck, it was summer right now, and Gale was wearing long sleeves and pants because the town got cold year round. How was this summer attire?

What other worlds were out there besides Travers Town? Where there worlds where the sun never sets? Worlds where both the sun and the moon were in the sky together at the same time? What sorts of people and life forms were out there? Gale could sort of remember a business-savy, anthropomorphic duck who sold ice cream before their homeworld fell into darkness. Were there other beings like him?

Gale would have traded anything to see it all for herself.

"Nowhere, okay!" she snapped.

"Gale," Aerith said gently.

"I'll be back later."

Without another word, Gale tore the door open, and slammed it shut behind her. Aerith and Yuffie could still hear her stomping down the hallway, and down the stairs to the second floor. Then finally, the slamming of the front door as Gale left the hotel.

Gale stomped as she marched her way across the Second District. Aerith's basket was laced through one arm, while Gale's other hand was crammed into her pants pocket. It was balled up so tight that her knuckles were turning white.

This was the life she lead, and she hated it.

* * *

><p>While Donald considered it a true miracle that Queen Minnie did not get upset, the real miracle was that <em>Donald<em> wasn't the one to lose his head in a moment sheer panic. The royal magician had gone to give King Mickey his morning greeting, as he did every day. But, the King wasn't in his usual spot on the throne room. All Donald found was a note with the King's seal by his dog, Pluto. The note pretty much said that the King had gone off, and gave Donald a few instructions.

The first thing Donald had done was gone straight to the Captain of the Royal Knights, and both the King, and Donald's longtime best friend; Goofy. In some ways it shouldn't have surprised Donald that he found Goofy sleeping in the castle garden, but this was important. Donald had planned to keep it between the two of them… but Queen Minnie, and Donald's girlfriend, Daisy were standing right behind them.

In the end, he had little choice, but to show them the note.

'_Donald,  
><em>_Sorry to rush off without sayin' good-bye, but there's big trouble brewin'  
><em>_Not sure why, but the stars have been blinkin' out, one by one. And that means disaster can't be far behind. I hate to leave you all but I gotta go check into it.  
><em>_There's someone with a 'Key' - the Key to our survival. So I need you and Goofy to find him, and stick with him. Got it?  
><em>_We need that key or we're doomed! So go to Traverse Town and find Leon. He'll point you in the right direction.  
><em>_The light in shadow is still strong, keep it from going out, no matter what.  
><em>_Signed - Mickey  
><em>_P.S. Would ya apologize to Minnie for me? Thanks, pal.'_

"Oh, dear!" Daisy gasped when she finished reading the letter. "What could this mean?"

"It means," Queen Minnie spoke up. "We'll just have to trust the King."

"Gawrsh," Goofy said thoughtfully. "I sure hope he's all right."

"Your Highness," Donald said, crossing his right arm over his heart. "We'll find the King and this 'key.'

"Thank you," the Queen said kindly. "Both of you."

Donald peered at the white duck in the purple dress. "Daisy," he said. "Can you take care of -"

"Of course," Daisy cut him off. "You be careful, now, both of you."

Minnie walked up to the desk, and cupped her hands together. A small creature hopped into the palm of her hands, the up on to her shoulder. "To chronicle your travels, he will accompany you," explained Minnie.

Immediately, the small creature leapt out of Minnie's hands. It landed on the floor, then jumped onto Goofy's shoulder.

"How do," the creature greeted with a tip of his blue top hat. "Cricket's the name. Jiminy Cricket at your service."

Queen Minnie brought her hands together, as though praying. "We hope for your safe return," she told Donald and Goofy. "Please help the king."

Immediately, Donald and Goofy straightened their postures, giving the Queen a salute, each. They wouldn't be leaving for another couple of hours, however. Since he did not know how long he would be gone, Goofy had to ask an old friend to take care of his son in his absence. All the while, Donald discussed travel with his uncle, Professor Ludwig von Drake.

A few years ago the King worked with the Professor to build a means of transportation between worlds. They managed to create something in the end, but not without a plethora of headaches. However, this was pretty much the ships first outing.

Here's hoping everything turns out okay.

* * *

><p>Gale's eyes lit up as she snatched a thin book off the shelf. There was a man in a long coat, who stood in front of a blue phone booth in the foreground, while they both stood in front of a fiery background. It was the recent issue of a graphic novel series Gale had really gotten into within the past year, though she had a boat load of previous issues to find and read.<p>

The shopping was pretty straight forward; a bottle of milk, a dozen eggs, a pound of beef, a couple of tomatoes, and a pack of these hotdogs Leon really liked. It seemed like they were always running out of milk, but it was a home of five people, so it happened. So, as soon as the shopping was done, Gale headed straight for the bookshop.

She had only been able to go on her own for the past two years. In the past, Gale needed someone to take her to the shop. There was something funny about leather clad, fifteen-year-old Leon, a bit cold and bitter since their arrival, escorting little Gale around town. The trips bored the heck out of Leon, but he was the oldest, not counting Cid. It did not help that some people thought he was a bit intimidating.

But when Gale was thirteen, she was given a little more freedom. She could walk herself to and from school, and could go to the First District on her own. Of course there was the fact that Gale could not leave the hotel without telling anyone where she was going, and she had to be home by her curfew or they would assume the worst. It was more or less the same with Yuffie, the biggest difference between them being that Yuffie was being trained to fight at an early age, Gale wasn't.

Even Gale's weapon seemed a bit safe. A boomerang wasn't all that sharp, and what she really needed to work on was her aim. It was like a safer version of Yuffie's giant shuriken. Gale wasn't quite sure how she felt about that.

So, with the forty-five minute shopping done, began the hour long trip to the bookshop. She had three books and the graphic novel in her arms. On the checkout counter Gale noticed a display of pendants hanging off a chain. "What're these?" Gale asked, grasping a red-orange sun pendant.

"A wishing pendant," said the cashier. "You make a wish on it, and wear it until your wish comes true."

"I thought you were supposed to wish on those weird turkey bones, wells, and stars," said Gale. She took a blue leaf into her hand. "This sounds like a gimmick."

The cashier started to ring up Gale's books. "Because it _is _a gimmick," agreed the cashier. "Now, do you want one or not?"

The pendants came in different sizes and colors. Each of them looked like they were made out of some sort of stone. "Does it matter what pendant it is?" asked Gale.

"None whatsoever. Kind of a broken gimmick, but what can I do? I only sell them."

Gale cupped a double lightning bolt pendant made from yellow and green stones. "Guess I'll take this one," Gale handed the pendant to the cashier.

She walked back to the Second District with a heavy bag in one hand, and a heavy grocery basket in the other. The hotel in the Second District served as home for the past six years. Gale worked as a part-time maid after school. Cid's accessory shop was their primary source of income, however, the hotel was more of a charity for people who found them in their shoes. People who lost their homeworld and took refuge in Traverse Town. The hotel would house them until they got back on their feet, free of charge. But they insisted on paying more often than naught.

Entering the hotel, Gale traveled up the first flight of stairs that would lead her to several rooms closed off to the public. That was the living space for herself, Leon, Aerith, Yuffie, and Cid. "I'm home," Gale announced, kicking off her shoes in the processes.

The hallway was quite, oddly quite. This was usually the time Aerith was cooking diner by now, for fear Cid would make one of his infamous moshpot concoctions. Unless Aerith was waiting for Leon's hotdogs. "Hellooo?" Gale called in a sing-song tone, and was met with no reply.

She traveled down the hall, her bad still weighting on her. The closer she got to the kitchen the move voices she could hear on the other side of the door.

"And you think he'll be here soon?" she heard Leon ask.

"Positive," said a voice Gale had never heard before. It was high-pitched, and kind of squeaky, but Gale could still tell that the owner was male. "With the rate the stars are going out, I'd say he'd be here within a few days."

"If you don't mind me saying, Your Majesty," said Yuffie. "That's a bit oddly specific. How can we be sure he'll even show up within a few days?"

There was a sudden pause; Gale imagined the squeaky voice owner to be deep in thought at the moment. "I have this feeling," said the stranger. "Call it intuition."

She was eavesdropping, no sugarcoating it. Sometimes it was the only way Gale could learn about what was going on. Being the youngest, Gale was often left out of the loop. Which was completely unfair to her, Yuffie was older than her by only one year, yet Yuffie got to be in the know for years. Totally unfair.

Clearly, something was going on. Usually, a new voice would mean a new refugee was found, but the conversation clearly wasn't going in the direction it usually did. Wait, did the stranger say that the stars were going out? Weren't the stars other worlds? Oh, gosh, something huge had to be going on.

"No one likes an eavesdropper!" Gale heard before she felt someone's fist pound into the top of her head.

Gritting her teeth, Gale gripped the top of her head. "That hurt!" she snapped at the blond man.

"Good!" Cid retorted, chewing on the toothpick in his mouth. He was a former smoker, and the toothpick supposedly helped him quit. "Finally, get some sense knocked into you."

The kitchen door opened, revealing Leon on the other side, looking quite unimpressed. His hair had grown out since his teenage years, but he retained a liking for black leather pants, and a matching jacket. "Leon! Cid's hitting me again!" Gale whined.

"And she's eavesdropping again!" argued Cid.

"Was not, I just got home!"

"For a full five minutes!"

"We have a guest," Leon said flatly.

In unison, Cid and Gale glanced over Leon's shoulder (which wasn't an easy feat for Gale). Aerith and Yuffie sat at the table with an anthropomorphic mouse who wore red and black with large, yellow shoes. The mouse looked over his shoulder, his round ears stayed round no matter what angle they were in.

Gale's brow arched. This mouse looked somewhat familiar for some reason, but she couldn't think of where. "Cid, Gale," said Leon. "King Mickey. King Mickey, Cid and Gale."

"Hey there," greeted the King with a kind.

Gale gave him a half-hearted wave of the hand. This was beginning to bug her, where did Gale know him from? "I'm sorry," said Gale. "But what's going on?"

"The stars are blinking out," the King explained, his voice full of worry. "More worlds are falling into darkness."

"What, like ours did?" asked Cid.

"Just like ours did," said Leon.

Rising from her seat, Aerith walked up to Gale and took her by the arm. She lead Gale back into the hallway, and took the basket from her. "Why don't you head to your room," Aerith suggested.

"What?! Why?" asked Gale.

Over them, Leon, Yuffie, and King Mickey explained to Cid the situation at hand. "I'll tell you what's going on in the morning," Aerith promised.

"Why can't I know now? I never get to know what's going on!"

"Gale!" Aerith warned in a hushed tone. "Please don't make a scene."

"You wouldn't have to worry about that if you just let me stay! Please, I want to know what's going on."

"I said I'd tell you later. You're too young for this sort of thing, Gale."

"But Yuffie get's to stay? She's only a year older than me."

"Yes," Aerith agreed. "But she was also trained at a young age to take care of herself. You were raised as any other child, Gale. Enjoy that."

It wouldn't be until Gale was a little older that Aerith was trying to help Gale. Compared to Yuffie, who had grown up in a clan of ninja's (yes, really), Gale's childhood was pretty normal. Aerith was trying to preserve that by keeping her ignorant of certain issues. Especially since Gale grew up in what could be called a broken family. She was trying to keep Gale from growing up too fast.

She didn't understand this now. Right now, Gale saw this as condescending.

But Gale did go to her room after that. She didn't cause a scene, not wanting to embarrass herself in front of the King. So, she excused herself, and was met with a "Stay safe, Gale," from the King.

Stay safe from what? The Heartless? The Shadows weren't that much of a problem if you were armed, or stayed with a group. In the end, Gale decided he was just being kind. The King did seem like the sort of person who would do that sort of thing. It wasn't her specifically.

Gale's bedroom was well lived in. Her bed was unmade, and there were several pieces of clothing scattered about on the floor. The only thing that was really neat and orderly were the stacks of books by the wall within arms length of Gale's bed. She _had_ a shelf, but that was quickly, and tightly, packed.

Planting her face into her mattress, Gale pounded her pillow several times to let out her frustration. Why did it seem like the World was against her today? Aerith and the others pretty much had a 'this-is-our-lot-in-life' mentality, then there was Aerith's insistence on treating Gale like a child.

A few minutes passed, and Gale didn't have it in her to beat her pillow anymore. Laying on her side, Gale dumped out the books she just bought from their. She grabbed the first of her new books, _The Prince and the Raven_, it was a fairytale about a prince, his knight, two dancing princesses, and a villainous raven.

Gale always passed her time reading, even before her homeworld fell into darkness nine years ago. Being an only child with a father who was super busy, Gale created her own entertainment, and became her own friend. All by reading every book in the house she could get her hands on. After she read every book she owned, Gale found herself sneaking off to the public library. It was a fifteen minute walk from her home to the library, but she made the trek on her own as young as four.

At first, Gale would spend a couple of hours in the library to read. But then, at the age of five, when she finished all the picture books in the children's section, the librarian talked to Gale about getting her very own library card. Gale could remember acting like the lady who worked there had just handed her the secrets of the universe.

Arguably, it was these books that helped her through the first few weeks upon arrival in Traverse Town. It was three days after they arrived, and Gale mustered up to courage to asked Leon and Aerith for something to read. However, the book Leon gave her was a picture book about a fruit bat that was raised by birds. She read it cover to cover pretty quickly, and several times.

After a little while longer, Gale became more comfortable around these people who were now taking care of her. She felt comfortable accompanying Leon to the shop to choose her own books.

And suddenly Gale's worries were long gone, and she was comforted by the words on the page. No longer was she stuck in a world of eternal night, but she was following two boys who tried to keep their principal, who thought he was their comic book superhero, safe from this weeks shenanigans. She was in on a case of mistaken identity between a prince and a poor look-a-like. She was following a cyborg to a ball that could save the world.

As much as a comfort this was, it probably gave her ideas. Gale wanted to be anywhere but Traverse Town. She wanted to be seeing the stars on B-612. She wanted to go on adventures with the great detective and his biographer. She wanted to see the Lonely Mountain. She wanted to see other worlds. The World was so much bigger than just Traverse Town, or even her homeworld.

Escapism could only do so much, after all.

That was when Gale remembered the pendant. She didn't really buy the whole shtick, heck, she was pretty sure wishing on a wishbone had more power than this necklace. Well, they needed to sell their product. Sighing, Gale took the pendent into her hands, as though she were praying.

"I wish…"


	2. Chapter Two

**Chapter Two  
><strong>**The Key and the Liar**

The sun was boiling hot, as it was every summer. But her talk with the orange haired boy reminded her of something she had been meaning to do before they set sail tomorrow. She hurried to their secret place, and was met with the coolness of the rock walls. If it ever snowed here, it might have been a wonderful freezer.

Crude, childish, chalk drawings coated the walls. There were a lot of good memories in there; who knew when any of them would see this place again. Dropping to one knee, she placed her hand on one drawing, it was the profile face of a little girl she had drawn as a child. There was one of a spiky haired boy that faced the first drawing. Self portraits.

Sitting herself onto the dirt ground, she remembered his teasing yesterday evening. About the star shaped fruit. She _was_ curious. Most kids were. But there was only one person she would really like to share one with. She reached for a stone, and began etching it against the stone wall, adding something new to the drawings. She added an extended arm, carrying a star, as though offering it to the picture of the girl.

This was the closest she would probably get to asking her to share one.

She set the stone down beside her, not quite sure if it was quite as she wanted it. Until the fluttering of cloth behind her caught her attention. "Wh-Who's there?" she asked, rising to her feet. Her voice sounded utterly strange to her ears.

"I've come to see the door to this world," a voice, distinctly male, said.

"Huh?"

"This world has been connected," said the stranger.

"What are you talking about?" she asked, trying to find the owner of the voice.

"Tied to the darkness," continued the voice. "Soon to be completely eclipsed."

Her fists clenched; gathering her bearings she said, "Well, whoever you are, stop freaking me out like this."

A figure stood, just outside the long tunnel that lead to the room. They wore a thick, brown cloak that covered their whole body. A hood hid their face from the shadow. There were two belts, creating an X across his chest. "Where did you come from?" she asked, any fear and irritation was gone.

"You do not yet know what lies beyond the door," said the figure.

"So, you're from another world!" she gasped.

"There is still so much left to learn," the figure said. Her words may as well have fell upon death years. "You understand so little."

Did they just call her stupid? "Oh, yeah?" she challenged. All of that would change tomorrow. "Well, you'll see. I'm gonna get out and learn what's out there."

"A meaningless effort," said the figure. "One who knows nothing can understand nothing."

A chill ran up her spine, and she turned her back to the figure. All she saw behind her was a rock wall, it was the only blank spot in the cave. When she looked back forward, the figure was gone. How strange.

She nearly yelped when a blurred figure, she never knew was there, walked through her. Their head looked from left to right, as though trying to look for something, before they half-jogged down the cave tunnel. What was going on?

In a flash, the hooded figure stood in front of her. "No one likes an eavesdropper."

Gale woke up with the feeling that someone was watching her. Her lightning bolt necklace was sprawled out across her face, and her right arm was wrapped around her purple unicorn plush toy. "Good morning!" Aerith said, tearing open the window curtains. It didn't have quite an effect, as the sky looked the same in the morning as it did at night.

Whining, Gale covered her head with the blanket, and curled up under it. "Up late reading again?" Aerith said with a knowing smile, and her hands on her hips.

"It's summer break."

"Well, I guess you didn't want to come with me," Aerith said in a singsong tone. "I was about to go out to look for them."

That was enough to prompt Gale to peek up from her blanket. "'Them' who?" she asked.

"A pair sent by the King," Aerith said, opening Gale's closet. "If the King's right, then they should be here sometime today."

Oh, yes, that's right. Aerith said she would tell Gale what was going on. Of course, some of it was bound to be omitted. Gale would have to figure out whatever she left out on her own. "Why's that?" she asked, catching the clothes Aerith tossed at her.

"They're looking for a boy with the 'Key,'" Aerith explained. "The King thinks he could be useful, so he wants his friends to stick close to him as they travel the worlds."

As Aerith said this, Gale was busy putting on a long sleeved red shirt. And suddenly, she couldn't get her head out fast enough. "_What?!_" she said all too louder than she had expected.

"Yes, the King wants his friends to travel the worlds with the Key."

"So-so-so-so," Gale chanted, struggling to put on her black leggings. She nearly tripped over herself in her march up to Aerith. "You mean this kid gets to travel the worlds, and we're stuck here?!"

"Gale, it's to protect the World order," Aerith said, bringing her hands together. "Even Leon thinks he'll be here soon, too. When he arrives I'm sure he'll have some questions to ask."

Gale's pupils shrunk. This was so beyond unfair! Gale had known about the existence of other worlds for nine years now. It was kind of hard to keep them a secret when you just arrive in a new town. But that was because Travers Town was designed to be a refuge for people who lost their home. It was all the proof Gale needed for evidence of another world.

But this kid, who probably wasn't even aware of the existence of other worlds, got to travel the worlds because of some 'Key' he had? That wasn't fair! What made this kid so special to get the one thing Gale had been begging for? Is it the 'Key?' Well then what made this damn 'Key' so special?!

_No, no, calm down,_ Gale told herself as she strapped up a set of removable pant legs to her shorts._ I can… I can think of something. I'm not letting an opportunity like this slip by._

"Okay, then!" Gale beamed, slipping her messenger bag onto her shoulder. Quickly, she slipped her feet into a pair of black sneakers, and stuffed her bag with a few books. "I'll go search for this boy."

"Wait, Gale," Aerith said, the younger girl was already headed for the door. "I-It's not that I don't think you can, but this needs to be handled with a little more-"

The door slammed behind Gale as she ran down the hall. "Delicacy," Aerith finished flatly.

"YES I'M ARMED, DON'T WORRY!" Gale shouted from the other side of the door.

* * *

><p>Gale always considered herself to be an indoor girl. She preferred the company of her books. Sometimes it wasn't worth going outside when you didn't need to. The Shadow Heartless were less of a danger, and more of a nuisance. And some days you just did not want to deal with it. And sometimes the danger wasn't worth it.<p>

But Gale was willing to put up with as many Heartless as possible if it meant getting out of Traverse Town. The way she saw it, is that she just needed to be the one to find the kid first. If Gale just talked to him and played dumb, maybe he would insist on taking her with him. Yeah, yeah! Just play dumb and pretend she had no idea where she was or what was going on.

Now, she just had to find him before Leon, Yuffie, or Aerith did. This was her only chance, and it could be gone if they got to him first.

The Second District was empty outside of Gale herself. There were at least two shops in the Second District, but one of them closed after the shop owner was attacked by Heartless a few weeks ago. Since then, very few traveled the Second District on their own. But, since Gale was on her own in this district, she might as well as check the Third District.

The Third District was rather recluse. There was probably all of one person who lived there, and another house that had been empty for years. Leon liked to use it as their groups home base when they needed to keep things under wraps. Gale walked down the sloped ramp until she came to even ground in front of the water fountain. But it didn't look like there was anyone here.

Scratching the back of her head, Gale hoped that she didn't miss him. Before she had the chance to turn around, she saw something in the corner of her eye. A black creature with a round head with a pair of antennae, round yellow eyes, and clawed hands rose up from the shadows. Gale couldn't help but smirk as she removed a green object from her pocket. She flicked her wrist, and her light green boomerang snapped into place. In one fluid movement, Gale threw the boomerang at the Heartless, taking it out as soon as it collided with its body. The weapon sailed back into Gale's hand.

But, she couldn't pat herself on the back just yet. Another Heartless appeared in front of her. Two… seven… ten… thirteen… Gale was quickly surrounded. Crud, crud, crud! How was Gale supposed to get out of this? If she was up against seven Heartless, maybe, but thirteen. Since when did Heartless travel in packs this big? Should she chance it and make a run for it?

Before Gale had the chance to make a decision, she felt something launch onto her back. She was knocked onto her knees; another Heartless jumped onto her, then another, and another. "Get off me!" Gale shrieked, her hands covering the back of her head. "Get off!"

"Watch your head!" she heard.

The weight on her back lessened, and Gale could hear something rip through the air. She flinched as the sound reached her ears again. She remained on the ground, even when she could no longer feel the weight of the Heartless on her back. "You okay?" asked a boy.

Gale looked up to see a boy about around her age, maybe a year or two younger at most. He had spiky brown hair, and big blue eyes. His skin was tanned, as though he was exposed to a the sun a lot. He wore a red onesie, large yellow shoes, and a black and white hooded jacket.

In one hand, the boy carried a large silver key-like sword with a golden guard. What sort of person looked at a skeleton key, and decided it would make for a very useful weapon. Hold on, was this the 'Key' Aerith mentioned? So that had to make this boy the one they were looking for.

"You okay?" the boy repeated, helping Gale onto her feet. He waved a gloved hand in front of her face. "Hellooooo?"

"Huh?" gasped Gale, snapping out of her daze. Play dumb. Play dumb! "O-Oh, yeah. Thank you. I wasn't sure how I was going to get through all those… eh, things."

"No problem," the boy said, giving her a kind smile. "I'm Sora."

"Gale."

"Well, Gale, do you know where we are?" asked Sora.

She shook her head. At least that was the easy part, just play dumb and let Sora explain what he did and didn't know. "Do you?" she asked.

"Just that this place is called 'Traverse Town.' Listen, Gale, I was looking for my friends, Riku and Kairi. Have you seen them?"

"No," Gale shook her head. Why did one of those names sound familiar? "I-I was actually looking for a couple of people too, but I can't find them."

"Really?" Sora was lost in thought for a moment.

Could this have gotten any more _perfect_? If Gale could just get a little sympathy from Sora, maybe he would have her stick with him. It wasn't fully a lie, there were plenty of people Gale hadn't seen since she arrived in Traverse Town. So she wasn't really lying. If anything she was helping Sora, adding a little extra man power to his cause. She was _helping_.

"Hey, Gale?" Sora asked after a moment. "Why don't we stick together? It'll be safer that way, and maybe we can help each other."

"Sure," Gale nodded, fighting the urge to smile like an idiot. "I'd hate for either one of us to come across a pack like that alone."

The boy chuckled at this.

As the pair walked through the Third and Second Districts, Sora talked about his homeworld and his friends. He lived on an island, which explained his skin tone; you could see nothing but ocean for miles and miles. With his friends, they were planning on building a raft to see other worlds, but a storm hit, and he lost track of his friends. And then he woke up in Traverse Town. "How far did you plan on getting on a raft?!" Gale asked through fits of laughter.

"I-I don't know," Sora said defensively. His face carried a slight blush of embarrassment. "The whole thing was Riku's idea, ask him. What about you? What's your home like?"

"Well we didn't live by the sea for one thing," Gale explained. "But there's so many gardens it's a wonder the sent of flowers wasn't overpowering. And the fountains are really something to see."

It amazed Gale that she could still remember the flowerbeds and fountains after all these years. She was six-years-old when she first arrived in Traverse Town. Maybe she only remembered them as well as she did was because Aerith often talked about them.

The First District was as deserted as ever. Most of the shops were closed, the only one opened was Cid's accessory shop. It was a bit odd to see everything else closed, however. Was there something going on?

The pair walked by the very shop when, "They'll come at you out of nowhere. And they'll keep coming at you, so long as you wield the Keyblade."

Gale looked over one shoulder to find a familiar brown haired man, with his gunblade slung over his shoulder. Gale bit her lip, could she still get this to work? She knew they would have to run into one of them sooner or later, but was this too soon?

"But why?" Leon asked himself. "Why would it choose a kid like you?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sora shot back.

"Never mind," Leon shook his head. He took a couple of steps forward. "Now, lets see that Keyblade."

Immediately, Sora sunk down into a fighting stance, his Keyblade appeared in both of his hands. "There's no way you're getting this!" snapped Sora.

"All right," Leon said casually. "Then have it your way."

The red-clad boy ran straight for Leon. "Sora, wait!" Gale shouted.

Leon remained unflinching. He brought his hand up and a Fire spell shot out. The fire smacked straight into Sora, knocking him back slightly. Almost as soon as he got his barrings back, Leon was already within arms length. His gunblade cut into Sora, throwing him into the air, and onto his back, hard. "I was about to bring him to you!" Gale shouted, marching straight up to him. "You didn't need to knock him out!"

"He was looking for a fight," Leon said casually. He slung his gunblade back onto his shoulder. "And he attacked first. What I did was self-defense."

"Hey, you found him!" a new voice piped up.

Brushing off Yuffie's comment, Leon walked up to Sora's fallen form. "Looks like things are worse then we thought," Leon said, pulling Sora onto his shoulders in a fireman-style. "A lot worse. Come on, we'll be safe at the hotel."

* * *

><p>The first thing he heard was the sounds of running water. His hand twitched as he opened his eyes. He needed to blink twice in order to clear his vision. "Where… am I?" he asked as he pulled himself onto his feet.<p>

He was stunned to find himself surrounded by water falling _up_. But he was alone. "Sora!" he shouted at the top of his lungs. All he heard in response was his own voice echoed back. "Kairi!"

He panted slightly, no response, just him. It was just him, and the tall woman in dark robes looking at him with a keen interest.

* * *

><p>Sora's head ached, and his joints hurt. His head felt foggy and as thick as pea soup. If he could just sleep for a few more minutes. "Come on, lazy bum. Wake up."<p>

Immediately Sora forced himself to sit up, and to peel his eyes open. He still could not think straight. "You okay?" the red haired girl in front of him asked.

"I guess…" Sora said a bit groggily.

"Those creatures that attacked you are after the Keyblade," the red-head explained. "But it's your heart they really want, because you wield the Keyblade."

"I'm so glad that you're okay, Kairi," Sora said in relief.

"Kairi? Who are you talking about?" the redhead asked, her voice suddenly changing into a more mature tone. "I'm the great ninja Yuffie."

Blinking a couple more times, the red haired girls image changed. She grew in height, and her hair became black. She looked over her shoulder at the brown haired man behind her. "I think you _might_ have overdid it, Squall," said Yuffie.

"That's Leon," the man in question said irritably.

It wasn't nearly as bad as when she was a kid, but Yuffie had a bit of a habit of referring to Leon by his real name. Partially because Yuffie found the name change to be completely stupid, and partially to get under his skin.

"How hard did you hit him?!" Gale exclaimed, coming into Sora's line of sight.

"Gale," Sora breathed out. At least she was safe. His eyes wandered around the room, until he found the Keyblade resting against the wall beside Leon.

"We had to get it away from you to shake off those creatures," Yuffie explained as though she were giving a lecture. "It turns out that's how they were tracking you."

"It was the only way to conceal your heart from them," Leon added, crossing his arms over his chest.

"But he said it wouldn't last for long," Gale explained. "Just long enough to wait for you to come to."

"Still hard to believe that you of all people are the chosen one," Leon sighed. He picked up the Keyblade. Immediately, in a flash of light, it disappeared, then repappeared in Sora's hand, much to the boy's surprise. "Well, beggar's can't be choosers."

"What are you talking about?" Gale asked, leaning against the wall herself. "What's going on?"

Her heart nearly stopped when Leon gave her _the look_. The look that said Gale should have known this by now. The look that said if she listened to him instead of keeping her nose in her books, then she would be more than up to speed by now. Even she should have known this. Aerith should not have kept her in the dark about this sort of thing.

It was a look Gale often got growing up.

But it was also the look that could give her away. Even if she was listening, and Aerith allowed it, Gale still would have asked what was going on. She needed to play dumb after all. Only this time she wasn't necessarily playing. Dumb luck at it's purest.

"As I'm sure you've realized by now," Yuffie said, taking a seat on the bed beside Sora. "There are other worlds out there. Countless worlds, but, see, they're supposed to be secret, because they've never been connected. Until now. Because of the Heartless."

"The Heartless?" Sora repeated.

"The ones that attacked you," Yuffie explained. "Remember?"

"Those without hearts," Leon explained. "The darkness in peoples hearts - that's what attracts them. And there is darkness within every heart."

"Hey," Yuffie spoke up. "Have you heard of someone named Ansem?"

"No," Sora shook his head.

Ansem… Gale remembered that name, just vaguely. Ansem was the sage-king of their homeworld. She remembered that he was a wise and kind man, but that was about it. She couldn't remember his face very well, only his name.

"He was a man who studied the Heartless," continued Leon. "He had everything written in his report, but it was scattered across the worlds."

"But what we do know is that the Keyblade is an important key to it all," Yuffie added. "Pun somewhat intended."

"You mean this?" Sora asked, holding it out in front of him.

"Exactly!" nodded Yuffie.

"The Heartless have great fear of the Keyblade," said Leon. "That's why they'll keep coming after you, no matter what."

"Well, I didn't ask for this," Sora said firmly.

"Yeah, this sounds kind of dangerous," added Gale. "Why can't someone else have it."

"The Keyblade chooses its master," explained Yuffie. "It's kind of picky like that, and it chose Sora."

"So tough luck," Leon added, with a halfhearted wave of his arm.

But why Sora? What made him so special as to get something like the Keyblade.

"I don't understand any of this," Sora said almost whiny. Sighing, he thought for a moment. "I remember being in my room…"

Gasping, Sora shot onto his feet. It was like he just remembered something important. That, or Leon and Yuffie's words, and the implications behind everything until now finally sunk in. "What happened to my home?! My island?" Sora asked in a small panic. "Riku… Kairi…"

Gale's brow knitted together, her hands were balled up in front of her chest. Not that she didn't feel any sympathy for Sora, but she couldn't really feel it in a 'poor baby' sort of way. The same thing happened to her a long time ago, after all. Of course that was sort of the problem. "Sora's friends weren't lost, were they?" she asked Leon.

"You know what?" he replied, his arms crossed over his chest as he leaned against the door to the Red Room. "I really don't know."

"But what are we supposed to do now?" asked Sora. He must have realized that, in theory, what happened to his world happened to Gale's.

"Sooner or later, the Heartless will find you," said Leon. "You'd best be ready to fight for your life. Let's go visit Aerith. She should be there by now with the other visitors."

"Leon!" Yuffie exclaimed, springing onto her feet.

She pointed towards the table where a Heartless with a helmet on its head appeared. "Yuffie, Gale, go!" Leon shouted, whipping out his gunblade.

Yuffie did as she was told and tore through the door to the Red Room. Gale could hear Aerith exclaim Yuffie's name on the other side. Gale knew she probably should have listened to Leon. Heartless usually did not appear indoors like this, something was very wrong in Traverse Town. But she didn't, instead, she got out her boomerang. "Gale, I said-"

"I can fight!" Gale argued. "I can fight!"

"Fine," Leon growled out. "But you better keep up. Sora, let's go!"

Leon lead the two teens outside into the back alleys of the Second District, the 'backyard' of the hotel. He instructed them not to bother with the underlings, they needed to find the leader first. They split up after that, Gale followed Sora into the Second District, while Leon went in the opposite direction.

"Sounds like you got your work cut out for you," Gale said as they ran through the Second District.

"Looks like it," he agreed. "Any idea where their leader could be?"

"None."

They ran into the Third District with a line of soldiers on their trail, too many to fight off. But Gale realized gloomily that the Third District was a bit of a dead end. They were going to be trapped.

A couple of shouts echoed as Gale looked up. A couple of figures were hurtling right towards her and Sora. She grabbed his shoulder with the intent of moving him out of the way, but it was too late. The figures landed on top of them, and the four of them were on the ground in a small dog pile. Gale looked up to find that the people that landed on them were an anthropomorphic dog and duck respectively.

"The key!" the duck and dog shouted in unison.

Gale looked a head of her to find that Sora's sword arm was extended out in front of him, with the Keyblade held tight in his hand. Oh, so they must have been the other two Aerith mentioned.

The ground around them began to rumble so fiercely it was a wonder the buildings didn't collapse on them. Stone pillars shot up into the air, blocking the exits. They were trapped like rats.

Five purple pieces of metal fell from the air, they stopped abruptly before they could hit the ground and floated momentarily. The largest piece straightened itself up as the other four pieces floated at its side, creating arms and legs. Finally, a spherical object fell out of the sky, landing at the top of the body, creating a head. Creating a full body.

"We'll watch your back," the duck said with a staff in his hand. The dog had a round steel blue shield in front of him with a mouse head emblem on the surface, and yellow accents lining the edge.

Gale looked up at the Heartless, it was big, not as big as the one Heartless that would appear in her nightmares, but it was still big. Exhaling through her nose, Gale took out her boomerang from her pocket; she flicked her wrists, her boomerang snapped into place.

The most logical thing to do was incapacitate the limbs, then go for the upper body. So Gale allowed Sora and the anthro dog to attack the Heartless head-on while Gale and the duck handled things from a distance. The duck was skilled in magic, and it wasn't as though straight up bludgeoning the Heartless with her boomerang would actually do anything helpful. Not with this metal body anyway.

However, the most surprising thing about this Heartless was that it's limbs were hollow. So, once they reached their breaking point, they shattered into tiny, tiny pieces. The legs were the easy part, in a sense. They would kick at the attackers on occasion; and then there were the arms. The arms that would spin around the body at rapid speeds, throwing back Sora and the dog. Added the fact that the arms required jumping in order to attack them.

But even when they took out the arms, the Heartless still managed to find away to attack, and the body wasn't quite as hollow as its limbs. When Gale tossed her boomerang, it bounced off the Heartless' head, and ricocheted back into Gale's waiting hand with a force that left a painful sting in the palm of her hand.

"Gale," Sora shouted, looking at her over the shoulder. "Wait until I give the go, then attack."

She gave him a thumbs up as a sign that she understood. She saw Sora mutter something to the dog, while she felt the duck glare at her. Gale did not like it, it was like this duck was waiting for her to do something wrong. Just her. Not Sora, not the dog, just her.

Wonderful.

"Go, go!" shouted Sora.

Immediately, Gale drew her arm back and threw the boomerang at the Heartess' head, while the duck had a fire spell trailing close behind. Both attacks smacked into the Heartless, knocking it off balance. On the ground, the dog, helped Sora gain momentum as he jumped up. The teeth of his Keyblade smacked into the Heartless.

As Sora landed, the Heartless began to shake. Steady at first, then fiercer and fiercer. The head began to twitch until it rolled off his shoulders, then toppled onto the ground. A glow emitted from the neck; a heart floated out, and disappeared into the air. The body that remained disappeared in a flash of light, leaving behind little to no trace it was ever there.

The ground rumbled again; the pillars lowered, revealing Leon and Yuffie waiting for them.

* * *

><p>"So, you were looking for me?" Sora asked, pointing at himself.<p>

Several minutes passed, Sora explained to Leon what happened. He concluded that the Heartless, a Guard Armor, was the leader. Something any of them could have figured out, but confirmation was nice. And then the anthropomorphic duck and dog explained that Sora was the person they were looking for, proving Gale's earlier deduction correct.

"They, too, have been seeking the wielder of the Keyblade," Leon explained, to which Yuffie nodded.

"Hey," the dog spoke up. "Why don't you come with us? We can go to other worlds on our vessel."

Sora's eyes cast downward. "I wonder if I could find Riku and Kairi," he murmured.

"Of course," said the duck.

"Are you sure?" the dog asked him in a hushed tone.

"Who knows," the duck shrugged. He added, just loud enough for the dog to hear him, "But we need him to come with us to help us find the King."

"Sora," Leon spoke up. "Go with them. Especially if you want to find your friends."

"Yeah," Sora said absently. "I guess."

"But you can't come with us looking like that. Understand?" the duck said matter of factly. "No frowning. No sad faces. Okay?"

"Yeah, ya gotta look funny, like us," the dog added brightly.

"This boat runs on happy faces."

Happy faces? Gale half expected the dog to just shout _'gotcha' _at any second. But nothing came; Sora just stood there lost in thought. What cheap fuel it had to be; but Gale's cheeks hurt just thinking about it. What was the average distance from one world to the next?

Without warning, Sora looked up at the two with a very droll expression on his face. There was an awkward silence as his face slowly relaxed. The anthro duo suddenly burst out laughing, claming that it was quite the expression. "Okay, why not?" Sora nodded. "I'll go with you guys."

"Donald Duck," the white duck introduced, extending his hand out in front of him.

"Name's Goofy," said the dog. He placed a gloved hand over Donald's.

"I'm Sora," the boy added, placing his hand at the top of the pile.

"All for one, and one for all," Goofy said with pride.

The longing to be a part of that, to go with them, drove Gale crazy. Why couldn't she get the chance to go because she didn't have this Keyblade whatsit? She knew about other worlds much, much longer than Sora ever did. This wasn't fair!

Leon lead the way to the First District for a send off. Gale nearly leapt out of her skin when she felt someone grab onto her arm. She whipped around to see Sora. "Gale, come with us," said Sora.

"Huh?"

"You said you were looking for a couple of people too, right?" Sora asked with a concerned look on his face. With those big blue eyes on that boyish face, he almost looked like a puppy dog in human form. "Maybe we could find your friends, too."

This was actually happening? This was actually happening! Sora was really asking her to come along! She could actually travel the worlds. This wasn't some half-baked plan that failed, this was really happening!

And all Gale could do was nod.

* * *

><p>The group sat at a round table watching the holographic images play out. They watched as Sora spoke with Donald and Goofy, and they watched Sora agreeing to go with them.<p>

"So, that little squirt took down that Heartless! Who'da thunk it?" commented Hades.

"Such is the power of the Keyblade," Jafar added coolly. "But the child's strength is not his own."

"Why don't we turn him into a Heartless?" Ursula asked, almost sounding bored. "That'll settle things quick enough."

"And that brat's friends are the king's lackeys," Captain Hook said, polishing his signature hook. He glanced back at the holographic image in front of them, watching Sora leading Gale by the hand as they half-jogged through Traverse Town. "He's even bringing along the lass. Swoggle me eyes, they're all bilge rats by the look of them."

"You're no prize yourself," chortled Oogie Boogie.

"Shut up!" Hook snapped, tossing his polishing rag to the side.

"Enough," a woman said sternly. "The Keyblade has chosen him. Will it be he who conquers the darkness? Or will the darkness swallow him?"

The green skinned woman in the black tattered robes smiled. She lovingly stroked the black feathers of her raven, Diablo. "Either way, he could be quite useful…"

* * *

><p>"I said no!" Donald shot back.<p>

Gale stood beside Goofy as the two stood between Donald and Sora. "Come on!" Sora argued. "We're both in the same boat. What's the harm?"

"Plenty," grumbled Donald.

"You mean a little extra muscle is harmful? Sorry, but I find it plenty helpful."

"I said no, and that's that!"

Goofy and Gale's gaze would bounce from Donald to Sora and back whenever one or the other spoke, like they had front row seats to a tennis match.

After the group had some parting words from Aerith, Leon, and Yuffie, Aerith had given them a couple hundred munny to help them get started. Moogles were rather famous for setting up shops all over the worlds, and they could come in handy later on. Things started to turn sour almost as soon as they started when Sora told Donald and Goofy that Gale would be joining them.

Needless to say, Donald got angry.

"Then I'm not going," Sora said crossing his arms.

He did not like playing this card. This was his only chance to find Riku and Kairi, but it was also Gale's only chance to find her friends too. Sora wouldn't be able to look at himself in the mirror if he knowingly left Gale behind when she needed this as much as he did. This was a gamble on his part.

Donald's feather's stood up on end, and his face began to turn red. Somehow… through all the feathers. "Fine!" snapped Donald. He turned to Gale and pointed straight at her. "But whatever I say goes, got it?"

"Perfectly," Gale said, trying to suppress her smile. "I'm Gale, by the way."

Her stomach began to bubble in excitement. It worked! Her half-baked plan actually worked! Gale was really doing this. She was actually going to see other worlds. All she had to do was keep track of what she said. Easy peasy.

* * *

><p><strong>Authors Note: <strong>Now, I've read my fair share of OC-inserts for the Kingdom Hearts fandom, but usually the OC has themselves a Keyblade by the time they met Sora, Donald, and Goofy, or Mickey's letter 'vaguely' mentions them (Keyblade I'm personally okay with, specific mention in Mickey's letter? _Eff_ no). I've not come across one OC that tags along because they really wanted to, or even lied to get on board. That's not to say I don't think any exist, but I've not come across a fic like that.

Right now, I'd say Gale is a less drastic version of Riku, she wants to travel the worlds, and is willing to do anything to get that. She's not letting darkness into the world, but she essentially taking advantage of, and manipulation Sora's kind nature, and _then_ does mental gymnastic to justify it. 'I'm _helping_! Not lying, I'm _helping_!'

So, the big question is when are the other going to learn that Gale's been lying, and what'll happen when they find out. And then there's Gale's dreams, which suggest there's going to be more to the story.

Also the fact that, in this chapter, Gale was overpowered by _thirteen_ Heartless… was a complete accident. I didn't realize it until editing the chapter. It works…? And no, this is not a Sora/OC story.

Reminder about my tumblr blog **sammiewritesstuff**, where I'll be happy to answer any question, and eventually post tidbits, updates, and other goodies.


	3. Chapter Three

**Chapter Three  
><strong>**Wonderland**

"The gummi ship is outside the gate," Donald explained, gesturing to the large wooden double doors the four stood in front of them.

"The what?" Sora questioned.

"'Gummi ship?!'" Gale burst out laughing.

"That's the name of our ship," Donald replied dully.

"Oh lordy, that sounds so childish!" giggled Gale. "Who's bright idea was it to call it that?!"

"The King did!" snapped Donald.

"Wait 'till you see it!" Goofy grinned excitedly.

"Hold on," Donald held up a feathered hand. He unzipped one of the many pockets on his shirt, and pulled out two orange-yellow orbs with an yellow fire insignia in the center. "These are for you."

He handed the kids an orb each. Curious, Gale held it up to her eyes. What was this supposed to be? It was just some pretty orb. But, in a flash, the orb disappeared, and a warm glow surrounded Gale's hands. She looked over at Sora, whose own hands were glowing as well. "What was that?" Sora asked, studying his hands.

"Now you can use magic," Donald explained.

"Really?" Gale asked with wide eyes. Leon had always been able to use Fire magic, and Aerith was good at healing. They never taught her, partially because Gale never had any desire to. Until today, when she was finally leaving Traverse Town.

"Okay, is that it?" asked Sora. He looked just as excited as Gale did. He was finally seeing other worlds, just as Riku always wanted.

"Hold on," Donald said in a hushed tone. He gave Gale a stern look, clearly telling her to pay attention as well; that this was very, very important. "We'll be going to many places, but you can't tell anyone that we're traveling from another world?"

"Huh? Why not?" Gale asked, even though she knew why.

"We gotta protect the World border," Goofy explained matter of factly.

"'Order!'" Donald corrected.

Sora tilted his head back slightly to think about this. He could see how it would cause some problems if others knew about other worlds. "I guess it shouldn't be too hard," he said while he laced his hands behind his head, and swayed from side to side. "Is that all?"

He waited a few moments with not response from either Donald or Goofy. He exchanged looks with Gale before the two ran through the wooden gate to a red and yellow ship. What was surprising, however, was that the inside of the ship was much, _much_ bigger than its exterior.

While there were the engines, and technical gizmo's that made the ship run, there was enough space for decent living condition. A kitchen, several bedrooms, a training room, and a bathroom. "Wow, look at this!" Sora exclaimed, pressing his face close to the engines. "Check this out! Ah, this is so cool!"

"That's enough!" a high-pitched voice yelled. Sora turned his head in the direction of the voice, and was greeted with a tiny mop smacking him in the face. "Will you stop touching everything you see?!"

Gale crouched down onto the floor in front of a pair of chipmunks. One of them was standing upright, with the mop he threw at Sora in his hands. He carried an irritated expression on his face. The second one was still on all fours, rag in hand, and scrubbing the floor. It was easy to tell the two apart by their eyes. The one upright had small, mature eyes, and his buddy had big expressive eyes. "We're trying to keep this place clean," the chipmunk with the mop scolded. "Don't make a mess, okay?"

"Those are Chip 'n Dale," Donald explained as he walked by.

"What do you mean 'those?!'" snapped Chip.

"I'm Gale, he's Sora," Gale introduced. "So, what do you do? Clean the ship?"

"We're the navigators," Dale explained. He then pointed at Chip. "Chipper here just got bored while we were waiting."

"You were the one that was bored!" Chip shot back. "But aside from navigating, we'll take care of the ship while you explore."

"Sora, Gale!" Goofy called from the upper level. "Come look at this!"

The upper floor cockpit had three seats, two upfront one in back. The control panel carried an abundance of multicolored buttons and leavers. What they were supposed to do, Gale could only guess. "Well, isn't this a surprise," said a new voice. Jiminy stood on the steering wheel. He tipped his top hat back slightly to keep it from getting in his eyes as he looked at Sora and Gale. "If I knew we were expecting another passenger. I would've written it down. Allow me to introduce myself, Cricket's the name; Jiminy Cricket. I'll be serving as the chronicler of this journey."

Sora tilted his head slightly to the side. "As in you're going to keep records of all this?"

"Sounds hard," noted Gale.

"Nonsense," the cricket said with a kindly smile. "A little hard work is good for any person or cricket. And this was a request by Her Majesty, the Queen, herself. I'd hate to let her down."

Jiminy took out a tiny journal and a cricket-sized pencil. "Now, then," he said. "I'd like to start by asking each of you kids a few questions. Nothing too personal, just enough to do my job. Why don't we start with where you're from."

Drat. Gale was going to have to make a few broad strokes with this one. She simply didn't have that many memories of her homeworld. What she did remember was only because Aerith, Leon, and Cid talked about it so much as she was growing up. But they were not _Gale's_ memories of the place.

So she explained things about her homeworld in vague details, and what her goals on this journey were. Gale tried to look uncomfortable when Jiminy asked about the friends she was searching for, hoping he would drop the subject. And he did with a kind, "Let's try again later."

It was Jiminy's kind nature that made her feel the most guilty for her deception.

The novelty of setting out wore off quickly, and Gale found herself sitting in the corner of the cockpit, popping over one of the books in her messenger bag. Thank goodness she had enough foresight to bring it with her. But if they ever stopped back, Gale needed to pick up her unicorn, or else sleeping was going to be quite lonely.

Even with her book to entertain her, Gale dozed off for a moment, waking when she heard Donald exclaim, "We're here!"

"Where's here?" Gale asked, rubbing her eye.

She didn't receive an answer. As the boy's gathered at the cockpit door. Gale was beginning to feel excitement and fear bubbling up in her. What was on the other side of that door? "Now don't jump out too hastily," Donald warned. Pushing the door opened, he slunked at the side. "Look right, then left."

Satisfied that nothing jumped out to attack, Donald and Goofy took their first steps outside the ship. What they forgot to add was 'look down.' "Careful!" Sora shouted.

"That's right!" Donald grinned, pleased to hear this.

Gale was certain her hair was standing up on end; her hands were balled up in front of her face. "Y-You're sure you're standing on something?!" Gale squeaked out.

Confused, Donald and Goofy looked down, sure enough, they were in fact standing in mid-air. It took another couple of seconds for gravity to finally kick in and they began falling. In a moment of panic, Goofy grabbed Sora's hand while he was still in reach. Jerking foreword, Sora began to fall down after them. He instinctively grabbed Gale by her shirt collar, and unwillingly took her with him.

Gale screamed through her teeth for several minutes as the group fell. And they kept falling, until it became less like 'falling' and more like 'floating.' Time went by, and the initial panic wore off, each member of the group began lounging about as though they were watching a movie in someone's living room. It was kind of fun at first, but now it was becoming flat out tedious.

"How long have wee been falling?" Sora asked through a sigh.

"Beats me," mumbled Donald.

"I've never owned a watch," Gale sighed "But I'd say an hour at most?"

At long last, a red and yellow tiled floor came into view. Immediately, Sora, Donald, and Gale readied themselves for a safe landing. On the other hand, there was Goofy, who was still in a laid back, hammock position. He landed on the floor quite clumsily.

"Oh, my fur and whiskers!" a white rabbit in a red waist coat shouted. He ran past the group, carrying a large, gold pocket watch in his furry paw. As far as he was concerned, the group simply did not exist. "I'm late, I'm late, I'm late! Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear! I'm here, I should be there!"

Gale gripped her chin, as she watched the rabbit scurry by. He ran down a narrowed hallway. "I'm late, I'm late, I'm late!" the White Rabbit continued. "The Queen, she'll have my head for sure!"

The Rabbit disappeared down the hallway, gone as fast as he arrived. What did he say about the queen? The queen would have his _head_? "Should we follow him?" asked Gale.

Sora walked forward towards the hall. He turned back to the others and shrugged. "It's the only way we can go," he pointed out.

So they followed Sora down the corridor. They were lead into a small, colorful room; as far as Gale could tell it could have been someone's sitting room. "Whoa!" Sora exclaimed as the White Rabbit ran by, furiously muttering to himself. Dashing his way to a small wooden door, he looked to be the size of a toy figure. Crouching down, Sora eyed the door. "How'd he get so small?"

"No," the doorknob said, opening it's small eyes. "You're simply too big."

"Wak!" Donald squawked, his hat popped of his head and fell back into place. "It talks!"

The doorknob was talking? The doorknob was talking! How many other doorknobs talk in the outside world? "Must you be so loud?" yawned the doorknob. "You woke me up."

"Good morning!" waved Goofy.

"Good _night_! I need a bit more sleep."

"Can you at least tell us how to get through?" asked Gale.

"Why don't you try the bottle, over there?"

The group looked over their shoulders to find a white table and a matching chair behind them. On the table were two glass bottles. How long had that been there? Sora took the bottle into his hand. There was a note that read, _'Drink me!'_ attached to it. "What do you think?" he asked Gale.

"What's the worse that could happen?" she asked weakly in reply. She could actually see a lot that could go wrong if it didn't work. For one, it could have been poison.

Sora must have realized the same thing, as he sighed while removing the cork stopper from the bottle. He put the bottle to his lips and took a sip. Licking his lips he handed the bottle to Gale. She took a sip and was surprised by the taste of it. It was cherry flavored, but she could also taste pineapple, toffee, buttered toast, and even turkey.

Her green eyes nearly popped out of her skull as Gales surroundings seemed to grow taller. No, no that wasn't right. The room wasn't getting taller, she was shrinking. Gale glanced over at Sora to find that he had gotten smaller too, as did Donald and Goofy. "Wow…" she muttered in awe.

"The outside world is so mysterious!" beamed Sora.

"I think it's a little _too_ mysterious," a somewhat disturbed Donald added.

"Hey, we can get past the door now."

With a dull expression, Donald gestured over his shoulder. The doorknob had konked out in the short time it took to pass the bottle around. "Hey, fellas," Goofy called from the far left corner of the room. The royal knight was standing in front of a mouse hole big enough for them to walk through. "I think we can get through here."

_How strangely convenient,_ Gale couldn't help but think.

However, what Gale was expecting to be lead to the inside of the wall. She expected to be met with wires, and mouse droppings. But instead, the mouse hole lead them to a hedge garden. A hedge garden with playing card soldiers lined up every so often. They walked through an archway to an open area, where the White Rabbit scurried up to a tall podium with a trumpet in his hands. The Rabbit panted a bit, a little winded, before he blew into his instrument. "Court is now in session!" announced the White Rabbit.

"I'm on trial?!" the blonde girl in a blue dress gasped. "But why?"

"Her Majesty, the Queen of Hearts, presiding," the Rabbit declared. He gestured to a plump black haired woman in a red, and black gown who sat high in her stand.

"This girl is the culprit. There is no doubt about it," the Queen of Hearts announced. "And the reason is… because I say so, that's why!"

"This is so unfair!" the blonde girl, Alice, argued.

"Well," demanded the Queen. "Have you anything to say in your defense?"

"Of course!" Alice replied. She sounded fairly calm and mature, all things considered. "I have done absolutely nothing wrong. You may be the Queen, but I'm afraid that doesn't give you the right to be so… so _mean_!"

"SILENCE!" The Queen shouted, pounding her gavel against the wooden surface of her stand. "You dare defy me?!"

"Hey, guys," Sora said in a hushed tone. "We should help her out."

"Yeah, but the-" Donald began slowly.

"We're outsiders," Goofy explained. "So wouldn't that be muddling?"

"'Meddling,'" corrected Donald.

"Oh, yeah. And that's against the rules."

But what accounted as meddling? If they were outsiders, wouldn't the fact that they were here to begin with be meddling? "Maybe they're right, Sora," Gale said, rubbing her arm. "This looks like it's just royal business, maybe we should stay out of this."

Besides, they didn't know the whole story. Alice really could have been a wanted criminal playing innocent as a sympathy ploy. "The court finds the defendant," the Queen of Hearts went on. "Guilty as charged! For the crimes of assault and attempted theft of my heart… OFF WITH HER HEAD!"

Oh…

Immediately, the card soldiers surrounded young Alice. Their sharp weapons in hand, towering over her. "No!" Alice shouted desperately. "Oh, please!"

"Hold it right there!" shouted Sora.

He bolted into the courtyard with the others following close behind. Gale's hands were beginning to tremble, this was going to get them all killed. "Who are you?" demanded the Queen. "How dare you interfere with my court!"

"Excuse me," Sora stepped forward. His voice wavered slightly at first, but he was otherwise calm, and gentle. "But we know who the real culprit is."

"Uh-huh," Goofy nodded. "It's the Heartle-"

His gloved hands flew up to his mouth, instantly realizing what he had almost said. Too much information was still meddling, and they were arguably meddling in enough as it was. "Anyway," Sora spoke up, hoping they were able to recover from that. "She's not the one you're looking for."

"Nonsense," scoffed the Queen. "Have you any proof?"

"Well…"

Before anyone could say 'jabberwocky,' the Queen had Alice locked in a human-sized bird cage. A red velvet blind hid her from the rest of the world, but even then, Alice had to prefer this over a chopping block. "Bring me evidence of Alice's innocence," the Queen demanded. "Fail, and it's off with all of your heads! Gather as much or as little evidence as you place, and report back here once you're ready."

Following the other's into the Lotus Forest, Gale had one hand over her neck. She tried not to imagine herself on a guillotine, but it just happened anyway. The thought made her quite green. "Let's just tell the Queen that the Heartless did it," Sora said. "We're already interfering with the world anyway."

"No!" Donald shook his head. "Everyone should keep living in their own world. It'll just cause confusion. That's why we have to keep it a secret."

"But don't having Heartless roam around count?" asked Gale.

"Well," said a sly voice. A pink and purple stripped cat appeared on the large stump they stood beside. "That may or may not be true."

"Who are you?" asked Donald.

"Who indeed?" the Cat asked in reply. "Poor Alice. Soon to lose her head and she's not guilty of anything."

"Hey, if you know who the culprit is, then tell us!" said Sora.

"The Cheshire Cat has all the answers - but doesn't always tell," said the Cat as he slowly began to vanish. "The answer, the culprit, the cat, all lies in the darkness."

"Huh?" Gale asked dumbly.

The Cat had disappeared completely. "But I won't tell which next," he said. "There are four pieces of evidence in all. Three are a cinch to find. The fourth is tricky."

"Should we trust him?" asked Sora.

"I don't," Gale said, adding in her two cents.

"To trust, or not to trust," the Cat said, suddenly appearing back on the stump. "I'll trust you to decide."

With that said, the Cat vanished again, much more quickly than he did the first time around. However, the last thing seen was his ever present smile. "This place is weird," Donald murmured under his breath.

An hour, and a lot of growing and shrinking passed before they managed to find three out of the four pieces of evidence. The fourth piece was found on an upper level of the Bizarre Room they originally came from. When all four pieces were found, they merged together into one pink box. "So, this should be enough to help Alice, right?" asked Goofy.

"I would think," said Sora. "They were originally pieces of a Heartless, so…"

"You think so?" the Cat's voice said in a near sing-song tone before he appeared in front of the group. "_She_ may be innocent, but what about you?"

"What do you mean?" asked Gale.

"I won't tell," the Cat continued. "But I'll give you something, instead."

Two light blue orbs with a white snowflake emblem inside appeared in front of the kids. Gale took the orb into her hands. The orb began to glow, and a sudden chill rushed through her. Goosebumps littered Gale's arms as the light died down. Gale hated the cold; nine years in Traverse Town would do that to a person. In a world that was stuck in an eternal night it got cold easily. Winters were downright unbearable.

"Ice?" Gale questioned, hugging herself despite the fact that she had on a long sleeved shirt under a short sleeved jacket. Clothes that made her just warm enough in a Traverse Town summer.

"And here's some added advice for Little Red over here," the Cheshire Cat said, hovering in front of Gale. "Unless you work on strengthening yourself, you'll attract them like flies to honey."

Gale arched her brow. "Attract who?" she asked.

"Who do you think?"

The Heartless? That was stupid. Gale lived in a Heartless infested world most of her life, whether or not she was there had no effect. The Cat had to be talking about something else, though what, Gale wouldn't have known.

Sora lead the way back to the hedge garden court yard. Once in the perimeters, he opened the box, allowing the Soldier Heartless inside it to run free. The Soldier began to cause havoc amongst the Card Soldiers. It's one mistake was slamming into the table where the Queen of Heart's sat. Her tea and cookies flew into the air, some of it landing on to the Queen herself. "What?!" demanded the Queen. Her face was beginning to turn dangerously red. "What was that?!"

"Your Majesty," Sora called, stealing the Queen's attention. "That's the evidence. It was most likely that thing that attacked you. That's what it does, so Alice couldn't have had anything to do with the earlier attempt."

Whipping out her boomerang, Gale vaguely noticed how warm it felt in her hand. She hurled it at the Heartless, her weapon bursting into flames as it hit its target. The flames had died down by the time it returned to Gale's hand, no longer as warm as it was before.

The Queen growled, her face no longer as red, but she was still rather irritated. She gave the order to one of her soldiers to release Alice. The cage was lowered; once on the ground, two Card Soldiers removed the blind, but Alice was no longer inside. "Alice! Where is Alice?!" the Queen bellowed upon rising to her feet. One could practically see steam coming out of her ears. She looked straight at her Card Soldiers. "All of you! Go search for Alice! I don't care who finds her! JUST DO IT!"

Immediately, several Card Soldiers surrounded the group with their weapons in hand. Each Soldier carried the same stony expression. No good deed goes unpunished.

In a flash, Sora's Keyblade appeared in his hand. Jumping to gain momentum, Sora slashed into two Card Soldiers, clearing a path. "This way!" Sora shouted, running into the forest.

"OFF WITH THEIR HEADS!"

* * *

><p>As they ran into the forest, Gale felt like she was about to keel over at anytime. They stopped when they were certain they lost them, and Gale fell to her knees gripping her chest as she tried to catch her breath. She didn't realize how out of shape she was. "Do you…" panted Gale. "Do you think the… the Heartless took Alice?"<p>

"I thought the Heartless only attacked people on the spot," Sora pointed out. He took a potion from his pocket, and offered it to Gale, hoping it might help somehow. She shook her head in response.

"I'm not sure," Donald admitted, crossing his arms. His face twisted in concern. "But something may be manipulating the Heartless. Something really bad."

The Cheshire Cat was heard, chuckling to himself. He hung upside down by his tail; his sudden appearance prompted a fearful shout from Donald. "Might you be looking for Alice?" the Cat asked innocently.

"Yeah," nodded Sora. "Did you see her?"

"No. But I know where the Shadow is."

"Shadow?"

Slowly, the Cat began to vanish limb by limb. "Take a look in the Bizarre Room," he said before disappearing completely.

"I don't trust him," Gale said, rising to her feet. "But if it's the only way we get answers, I say we go for it."

"But the guards," Goofy pointed out. His hands flew up to his thin neck. "You heard what the Queen said. If they catch us-"

"Ah, we lost them easily," Donald said gesturing to the forest around them. "Shouldn't be that hard to lose them again."

Sora grasped Gale by her upper arms as the group made their way out. Surprised, Gale turned around to look Sora in the face. On the ship, during Jiminy's question and answer session, they both learned that Gale was in fact the older one of the two by a good year. Even with that in mind, they stood at about the same height, give or take (it was actually kind of difficult to tell with Sora's spiky hair).

At the moment, Sora's brow had arched, with a look of concern in his eyes. "Are you sure you don't want to sit this one out?" he asked her.

"What? Why?" questioned Gale.

"You weren't looking so hot after running for a bit," Sora pointed out. He started rubbing the back of his neck. "And you were looking kind of pale after searching for evidence after a while."

She was? "I'll…" Gale's voice trailed off.

What would happen if she couldn't keep up? Would they send her back to Traverse Town? Gale couldn't go back! This was the first time she had seen daylight since she was young. She couldn't go back to that dreary world.

"I won't hold anyone back," Gale said, trying not to sound too desperate. But she was pretty sure she was failing. "I'll keep up even if it ki-"

"No, no, no!" Sora shook his head. He grabbed her by the shoulders and gave them a slight squeeze. "That's the _last_ thing I want to hear, Gale! I don't want you hurting yourself trying to keep up! You can take it easy for a while, and we'll…"

He was worried about her? Was Gale really looking that bad? Sure she was out of breath, but Gale was sure that was about it. She didn't think she was pale as Sora had claimed. But she was feeling fine now, true she wanted to sit down, only because this was probably the longest she had been on her feet for a while. Gale was just out of shape, that was all.

"Sora, I'm fine," Gale said, she tried to put on a smile. "Honest."

Sora's eyes met hers, which caused Gale to panic slightly. The look he bore made her feel like he was trying to find any trace of deception in her. Finally, he nodded. "But don't push it, okay," Sora stressed.

Gale said she wouldn't, but odds were she was lying to Sora again. She needed to earn her keep in this group, after all. She was certain that Donald would kick her out if she fell back. Goofy… well, Goofy seemed to have a 'the-more-the-merrier' mentality. Sora, Sora would probably defend Gale's right to travel with them.

Why did these people have to be so nice?

The Bizarre Room was brightly lit by the time they finally returned. The Cheshire Cat was on the white table by the medicine that made them shrink, and grow back to normal height. They climb up using a conveniently placed chair. The Cat's smile somehow looked even wider. He stood up on his back legs, performing a little jig as he spoke. "The Shadow should be here soon," explained the Cat. "Are you prepared for the worst? If not, too bad!"

Overhead, a tall, skinny Heartless jumped down. It unfolded its long arms, revealing a baton in each hand. It was red and black, and looked like it could have been made out of party streamers. "You tricked us!" Sora accused while giving the Cat a nasty look.

"Tricked you?" scoffed the Cat. "Nothing of the sort. The Cheshire Cat is always here to help the weak."

The Cat vanished from sight, leaving them alone to battle the Trickmaster Heartless. It brought back one arm for a swing. "Head's up!" shouted Goofy.

Gale tumbled off the table, onto the tiled floor. She whipped her boomerang out, and threw it at the Trickmaster. It smacked against the Heartless' tall head, knocking it off balance in the process. Immediately, Goofy jumped up, spinning around in mid-air, his shield hitting into the Trickmaster's knees. Sora leapt up after Goofy, bashing his Keyblade into the Heartless whenever Goofy landed.

Fire shot out of Donald's staff, and hit the Trickster. The fire wove around the Heartless' skinny arms, then the batons it held. Immediately the batons were set ablaze, complicating things a bit. "Gale!" Sora shouted, stealing her attention. "Throw your boomerang at it again, but this time put the Blizzard spell around it. Donald, try to time your attack with Gales, make it a Blizzard, too. Goofy when I give the go, we attack just as we did before."

"Sure thing, Sora!" Goofy said with a salute.

Sora looked over his shoulder. "Gale, Donald, got it?" he called.

"Got it!" Donald shouted back.

The Trickmaster paraded around the room, twirling its batons through its fingers. Gale ran up to the chair by the table, and climbed up. She leaned against the backing, catching her breath. Straightening herself, Gale willed a flurry around her boomerang as she reached back, then threw it at the Heartless.

As soon as it sailed through the air, Donald cast his own spell. They hit, one after another, smacking into the Trickmaster in its tall, thin head. It's knees buckled, Goofy leapt up, spinning around in place, bashing the Heartless in the knees. Sora leapt up, the teeth of his Keyblade bashed into the Heartless upper body.

The Heartless was forced back up onto its feet. Its arms slumped at its side, the fires on its batons extinguished. The Trickmaster fell backwards, its body landing on the floor. It began to glow brighter, and brighter as a heart sailed out of it's lifeless body. The heart disappeared before it could reach the ceiling, and the body that remained disappeared.

Gale hurried over to her fallen boomerang, there were still a few snowflakes circling around it. "Where'd the Cat go?" she asked, returning it back to her pocket.

"Probably hightailed it out of here," said Donald.

A loud, somewhat nasally yawn rang in the air. The Doorknob was a wake, having, somehow, slept through the whole thing. "What a racket," yawned the Doorknob, clearly irritated. "How's a doorknob supposed to get any sleep?"

It yawned again, its mouth opened up wide to reveal a glimmer from the inside. The quartet peered inside to get a better look at the glimmer. Perhaps Gale had been seeing things, but she could have sworn it looked like a keyhole.

Sora's Keyblade appeared in his hand. A stream of light rocketed out of the tip of his weapon. The light traveled into the keyhole, and a soft click was heard. The lights vanished as quickly as they came, just in time for the Doorknob to finish yawning. "What was that?" Donald asked, voicing the single question everyone was wondering.

The Doorknob yawned once more, a small object flew out this time around, and onto the floor. "What's this?" Gale asked, picking up a blue-green object.

"It's a gummi block," Goofy explained. "They're used to build the gummi ship, but I've never seen one like this before."

"Me neither," added Donald.

"Splendid," the Cat's voice echoed in the room. "We've got quite the heroes on our hands."

The Cheshire Cat was rested on the table, relaxed, indifferent to everything that had just conspired. "Really quite excellent," praised the Cat. He clapped his paws together. "Your power has blossomed! I can't wait to see what you do next."

Sora glared at the Cat, still a bit miffed at the felines manipulation. "Who are you really?"

The Cat's grin carried something a bit more sinister now. "If you're looking for Alice, she's not here," he said, his voice now as dark as his smile. "My friends, I'm afraid she's gone. Gone with the shadows… into the darkness."

* * *

><p>"That darn cat!" cursed Hades.<p>

"Needs to shut its big mouth!" finished Hook

"We should have finished him off when he turned down our offer," Oogie commented, throwing in his two cents.

"Too late for that," said Jafar. "Even if we let him live, he can't do us much harm."

"But those brats are a problem," Ursula pointed out. "They already found one of the Keyholes."

"We need to take care of them right away-"

"There's no need to rush," Maleficent reassured her counsel. "It will take them ages to find the others. Besides…" A thin smile played upon her lips. "The pieces are falling into place in our favor…"

* * *

><p><strong>Authors Note:<strong> In which they go to Wonderland… yeah this word is actually quite boring for me. It was more of a challenge in Days and Re:Coded.

Reminder about my tumblr blog **sammiewritesstuff**, where I'll be happy to answer any question, and eventually post tidbits, updates, and other goodies.


	4. Chapter Four

**Chapter Four  
><strong>**Olympus Coliseum**

Donald drummed his fingers against the dashboard impatiently while he rested his head in his opposite hand. The gummi ship was still docked in Wonderland, as Gale was busy looking through the local Moogle's goods. The Moogle sold a few items that would have come in handy on this journey. Boxed and canned foods, bottles of freshwater, soaps, salves, potions, pots and pans, and even toiletries. But Gale was interested in the books. Which wouldn't have been a problem if Gale didn't have a bag of books already. "It's from my own pocket!" Gale assured Donald. "I have a bit of my own savings, you know."

In the end, Donald allowed it.

His mistake.

The minutes ticked by, and every time Donald took a peek out the ship, Gale was still crouched down, looking through the Moogles collection. By the time Gale finally returned to the ship, she carried four books in her arms. "Those books had better last you the rest of the journey," Donald grumbled as the engines came to life.

"Are you kidding?" asked Gale. She was heading down stairs to the room she had claimed for her own. "These aren't going to last me long."

The last thing Gale heard from Donald was incoherent mumbling. She wasn't joking around when she said the books wouldn't last her long. If Gale could go back to Traverse Town for a bit, maybe she could smuggle some more of her favorites into the ship. And her plush unicorn. All the rooms in the ship felt a bit barren and lonely. There was hardly any personality to it. Hopefully, Gale could change that with a few books, new and old, but it still wouldn't be much.

So Gale spent the journey to the next world lounging in her room, reading one of the new books. By the time the engines died once more, Gale was about ten pages away from completing the novel. Hopefully they would be busy enough that the few pages wouldn't bother her so much.

Her hopes were granted when they left the ship. Stone pillars surrounded the premises, but were the most impressive in front of the white marble building. Polished pillars stood in front of the building, with two large statues of gladiators battling it out over the building's entrance. "Wonder what kind of place this is," Sora thought out loud.

"Someplace straight out of mythology…" Gale murmured in awe.

She meant it. This place reminded Gale of stories like Heracles and the Nemean lion, Jason and the Argonauts, Perseus saving Andromeda. It was a little modern than what Gale imagined, but it was somewhat close.

They walked into a small lobby, where there sat a display of trophies on either side of the room. A short, chubby satyr stood on a small pedestal, looking over a chart written in an alien language. Sora exchanged looks with the group, wondering if he should tap the satyr on the shoulder or not. "Um…"

"Good timing," said the satyr with his back still turned to them. "Give me a hand, will ya? Move that pedestal over there for me." He gestured to the large, stone block to his right. "Gotta spruce this place up for the games."

Sora shrugged slightly before he approached the block. Bracing his hands against it, he began to push. He put in as much strength in it as he could, but it wouldn't move. Sora looked up at the others, silently asking them what to do. Then, Gale braced herself beside Sora and pushed along side him. They nearly collapsed onto the floor as the gave up. "It's way too heavy," Sora told the satyr.

"What?! Too heavy?" the satyr repeated, stunned. He just couldn't believe his ears. "Since when have you been such a little-"

The satyr turned himself around, and finally realized who he was speaking to. "Oh, wrong guy," he murmured. "What're you doing here?"

Philoctetes, otherwise knows as Phil, the trainer of heroes hopped off his podium with a clop, clop of his hooves. "This here's the world-famous Coliseum - heroes only!" explained Phil. "And I got my hands full preparing the games… So run along pip-squeaks."

Gale could feel her ears turn red in embarrassment. She was always the shortest in class, and was still a little underdeveloped compared to most girls her age. So being called 'pip-squeak' was treading sensitive territory.

"It's like this," Phil continued. He gestured to the trophies on the wall. "Heroes are coming from all over to fight ferocious monsters right here in the Coliseum."

"You got heroes standing right in front of you," Donald argued, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Yep," Goofy agreed, placing his hands on Sora's shoulders. "He's a real hero, chosen by the Keyblade!"

Should Gale have felt jealous about that? Sure she wanted a Keyblade herself, but mostly because it would've let her travel the worlds. Gale simply saw it as her ticket out of Traverse Town. But, on the other hand, this was the Coliseum. If this was anything like the stories she read, Gale wasn't quite sure she wanted to be in the games.

"And we're heroes, too!" boasted Donald.

"Heroes?" laughed Phil. "You runts!"

"What's so funny?" Sora argued. He thumped his chest with his fist. "We've fought a bunch of monsters."

"For all of two days," murmured Gale.

"Hey! Whose side are you on?"

"I'm just saying…"

"Hey!" Phil spoke up before an argument could break out. "If you can't even move this," he braced himself against the block, then pushed all his weight against it. The block was more than three times his size, however. "You can't… call yourselves… heroes!"

The satyr slid down onto his forelegs, panting. "Uh…" Gale's voice trailed off with her head tilted to the side.

"Okay," Phil stressed, getting back onto his hooves. "So it takes more than brawn. Well, let's see what you can do." He looked up at Sora and Gale. "Which one of you would like to do the honors first?"

"He will," Gale said immediately, pointing both forefingers at Sora.

Sora looked at her angry at first, but his face quickly realized with a brief 'oh.' He must have thought Gale was calling first dibs. Donald, Goofy, and Gale watched as Sora was put through the little obstacle course Phil had set up. It was simple enough, burst the number of barrels within a set time limit.

Gale, Donald, and Goofy watched from the sideline as Sora burst through the set twenty barrels. Phil mention off handily that the record was three seconds remaining. However, what he did not count on was Sora's competitive streak. He wasted no time to wipe out the barrels, and finished with five seconds on the clock remaining. It was enough to leave Phil somewhat impressed.

"All right, little lady," Phil began after a new set of barrels were set up. He looked up at Gale. "You're up. Same rules apply."

Nodding, Gale removed her boomerang from her pocket. She did not expect anything less.

As soon as the signal went off, Gale hurled her boomerang towards the nearest barrel, taking out two. She tossed it farther, taking out another five. Catching her boomerang, she quickly placed it on the ground, and hammer tossed a barrel close by. She proceeded to repeat either process several times. In the end, it was close, but she managed to smash all twenty just as the timer ran out. She wasn't making any records like Sora, but she finished within the time limit.

Returning to the lobby, Gale rested herself against the wall, trying to catch her breath. Maybe she would be better off doing some training in between worlds. There was a training deck in the ship, wasn't there?

"You know," Phil said with the slightest trace of enthusiasm. "You kids ain't half-bad."

"Looks like we're headed for the games," grinned Sora. He had his arms folded behind his head as he lightly swayed to the side.

"Afraid not," said Phil. He placed his hands on his mahogany furred hips.

Sora nearly fell over when he heard this. Had he heard right? They wouldn't be going to the games?! "Why not?!" he asked.

Phil held up two fingers. "Two words: You guy's ain't heroes."

Gale's eyebrows knitted together as her lips twisted to the side. Math was never her strongest suit, but she was pretty sure that wasn't two words. Donald slumped over, just as disappointed as Sora. Goofy on the other hand was counting out the number of words Phil said on his fingers. So it wasn't just Gale who noticed.

Phil scurried to the small podium where they first found him, which seemed to be his little business station. He dug around behind it, then tossed Sora a yellow orb. Then one to Gale. "Wanna become real heroes?" Phil asked after tossing the second orb to Gale. "Master this spell."

The orbs bore a orange lightning bolt emblem. Absently, Gale began to fiddle with her double lightning bolt pendant. Not for any real reason, her hand may as well had just acted on its own. The orb dissolved into a yellow light. Gale jumped back, surprised, then ran a hand through her hair hoping to save face. As soon as her fingers touched her hair, she was greeted with a tiny shock.

"But we still can't enter the games?" asked Sora. His own orb had just disappeared.

"Look, kid," said the satyr. He tried to keep his voice natural, but it betrayed him slightly. "I can't let you in the game's unless you have a pass. You have one, fine, I'm interested to see how you do. Otherwise I can only train you."

"Sora," Gale said in a hushed tone. She grabbed onto his arm. "Let's just go."

He allowed Gale to lead him out of the lobby, with one last look at the coliseum door. As much as Sora wanted to find his friends, and help Gale, he really wanted to take part in the games.

Sora's feet dragged as they walked back outside. Looks like it was back to the ship it was. "Rather a stubborn old goat," he heard.

Sora looked up to find a tall blue-grey skinned man with blue flames as hair. He had a thin, angular face, a long, thin nose, and sharp teeth. He had on a black toga that went all the way down to the ground. Hades, the Lord of the Dead, leaned against one of the outside pillars, almost as though he were waiting for them.

"Who are you?" asked Donald.

"Whoa, hold it there, fuzz boy," Hades replied, holding up a hand to silence him. "Wait, let me guess. You want to enter the games, right?"

He glided up to Sora, completely towering over the boy. "Well, then, hey get a load of this," he extended his hand in front of Sora. In a small flurry of flames as blue as Hades' hair, a rectangular bit of paper appeared.

"A pass?" Sora asked him.

"It's all yours," Hades said smoothly. "Good luck, kid. I'm pulling for you, little shorty."

"Hold on," Gale said before Hades could disappear on them. "A free pass? What's the catch?"

"Catch? What catch? Who said anything about a catch?" Hades asked with a shrug. He was talking fast, as though trying to sell a used vehicle. "Can't a god do something nice for a couple of kids in need?"

"No," Gale replied flatly. She read enough stories to know that gods did not do anything for humans unless there was a catch to it in one way or another.

Suddenly, Hades took Gale by the shoulder, and lead her away from the group. "Kid, you wanna get in the games, right?" asked Hades.

"I… guess… Yeah."

"Can't exactly do that without an entrance pass, right? We're on the same page?"

Gale nodded.

"So, it goes without say that without a pass, you can't get in," explained Hades. "Now, kindly tell me, why question what's been given to you? Why not enjoy it?"

"Because my stranger danger senses are going off," Gale said innocently. "And I also know that if a strange man gives you something out of the blue, he usually wants something in return."

Hades shuttered. "You gotta put it like that? Yeesh!"

"Gale!" Sora called. "C'mon!"

"Better not keep them waiting, red robin," Hades said, giving a her forceful push towards Sora.

"What's the problem, Gale?" Sora asked her as they headed back into the lobby. "What's the worst that could happen?"

"Plenty," Gale muttered in response.

Half-jogging into the lobby, Sora held out the pass to Phil. The satyr plucked it out of Sora's hand and held it up to the light. "How'd you get this?" murmured Phil.

"This means we can enter the games now, right?" Sora asked impatiently.

"Well…" Phil's voice trailed off. "I guess so. We'll start the preliminaries! You guy's ready for it?"

"Yeah, we're ready!" Sora answered for the four of them.

"Some real weirdoes signed up for the games," Phil warned as he lead them into the coliseum. "Better watch yourselves."

* * *

><p>The first round of the preliminaries was quite simple. Take out the Heartless; a group of Soldiers and Blue Rhapsody's. It wasn't anything any of them had not dealt with before. The only time they came across trouble was when Gale tripped over her own shoelace, and fell flat on the ground. A Soldier immediately leapt onto Gale's back, and started clawing at the hood of her jacket. Donald managed to blast it off her with a Fire spell, followed by Goofy smacking it with his shield.<p>

Gale came out of it okay. The Soldier had not scratched her back, let alone take her heart. She was just going to need to be careful for the undone shoelace. With the first match out of the way, they were given the opportunity to rest for a few minutes before the next match. "You guys ain't heroes, yes," explained Phil. "But you ain't doing bad. Lucky you have me coaching."

"You do this sort of thing a lot?" asked Goofy. "Training heroes?"

"Long line of heroes, long line of disappointments," Phil said with a slight deadpan. "Odysseus, right to Perseus, and Theseus."

Wait, didn't it end relatively okay for both Odysseus and Perseus? Actually when she thought about it, the one who trained Perseus and Theseus was a centaur, not a satyr. "What about Achilles?" asked Gale.

"We do not talk about Achilles!" snapped Phil.

"Kay…"

One the of the participants walked by, he was a young man in his early twenties. His spiky blond hair was probably his most notable feature, and could probably give Sora a run for his munny. He was dressed in a military uniform with a tattered red cloak over his shoulders, and a brown gauntlet on his left hand. His blue eyes were sharp, and his facial features were oddly slender. He probably would have made for a beautiful woman.

"Something tells me he'll be tough to beat," Phil noted as soon as the man was out of earshot. "Who knows, maybe you'll be facing him."

"Don't go giving Sora any ideas," Donald muttered, slapping his feathered hand over his eyes.

"Hey, we gotta win the next match first," said Sora. Even though Donald suspicions were correct, he definitely wanted a chance against this man.

The next match was against three Blue Rhapsody's and a number of Shadows. Gale threw her boomerang at one of the Rhapsody's; yellow sparks danced around the green weapon. It shocked the Rhapsody as it was flung across the arena. When the weapon returned to Gale's hand she tossed it low towards the Shadows.

When the match ended, Gale was bent over double, panting. "You kids are better than I thought," confessed Phil. "Which he was here to see this."

"He who?" asked Gale.

"Hercules. He's a hero if I ever saw one. Too bad he's off visiting his father."

Hercules? As in Heracles? And Perseus and Theseus were trained by a chubby satyr, so why not? Gale supposed that wasn't what surprised her, what surprised her was that Zeus was apparently buddy-buddy with is son. Hera must have been seething.

The third match went on with little hindrance. All the while a shadowy pair watched the match play out from the shelter of the bleachers. "Those little squirts are your next opponents, okay," Hades told the mortal man behind him. It was the spiky-haired blond, Cloud, who leaned his back to the wall, and had his arms over his chest. "Now, don't blow it. Just take 'em out."

Cloud's eyes traveled to the side, eyeing the boy, Sora, celebrating with a girl, and their two odd companions. They were just a couple of kids having fun, nothing for Hades to get worried about. "The great God of the Dead is afraid of a couple of kids?" Cloud asked, not bothering to hide the mockery in his tone. "Sorry, but my contract says-"

"I know!" snapped Hades. The flames that served as his hair began to dance wildly. "You think I don't know? I wrote the contract! I know it says you're only required to kill Hercules in this tournament. But you've gotta fight the kids to get to him. Come on." Calming down slightly, Hades shrugged. "Hey, it's like that old goat says; 'Rule number eleven: It's all a game, so let loose and have fun with it!"

The God of the Dead turned his back to Cloud. "I mean, what's a casualty or two along the way," Hades muttered under his breath. "It's no big deal, right?"

Cloud got up from his spot on the wall. He did not respond to Hades, but walked out into the sunlight. He was right about one thing, they were his next opponents. "Yeesh, stiffer than the stiffs back home," Hades commented under his breath. "Still, suckers like him are hard to come by."

Sitting on the bleachers, Gale slid her boomerang back and forth into place as she waited for the next match. "How many rounds are there?" she thought out loud. "Or, rather, how is Phil even organizing the Heartless like this."

"Who cares?" Donald pounded his chest a couple of times. "I could keep this up all day if I had to!"

"All day? I could go longer!" Sora said, trying to one-up the duck.

"No, seriously, I don't want to drop dead from exhaustion," argued Gale. Quickly, she muttered under her breath, "Besides, I'm hungry."

"Hey, fellas," Goofy spoke up. He used his shield to gesture to the opposite side of the arena, where a figure stood. "I think our next opponent's here."

Cloud held a very long, very wide, and very heavy sword in his dominate hand. It bore a bit of wear and tear, it must have been used a lot over the years. Gale had to wonder how long Cloud had to have worked with that thing in order to lift it. She was not about to have that question answered. Cloud was the first one to attack with his Buster Sword. And everything spiraled out of control from there.

At first, Cloud moved slowly, either because of the Buster Sword's weight, or he was waiting for one in the group to attack first. When that didn't happen, Cloud took the initiative into his own hands. One swipe of his sword was enough to send Donald flying across the arena. Goofy's shield was knocked out of his hand before he could even get the first hit in his spin attack in. A second later Goofy was hurtled across the arena, beside Donald. Both of them, quite literally, saw stars.

Gale was hardly given a chance to react after that. Cloud was suddenly barreling up towards Gale, and struck her down. She landed on the arena floor like a sack of flour, gripping her side. With one eye squeeze shut, Gale looked up at Cloud as Sora was thrown at her side. Who the heck was this guy?!

Cloud held the sword over his head for the final blow. He hesitated.

The ground began to rumble something fierce. A shadow cast over the field. Gale was sure she turned pale. Of all the stories she knew this world vaguely resembled, it had to match up with _this_ one.

"Oh, right," Hades said from the sidelines. Dark flames began to lick at the hem of his toga, and slowly inch up his being. "There's one other rule I forgot; Accidents happen."

The three-headed, black furred dog reared up on its back legs. All three sets of yellowed teeth snapped at the air, it's red eyes glaring at the wonderful people it could snack on. The dog yelped when it was abruptly stopped before he could pounce. A muscular man with auburn hair was successfully holding back the dog.

"Herc!" Phil shouted from the bleachers.

"Phil!" Hercules shouted over his shoulder. "Get them out of here!"

Gale felt Goofy grab her by the upper arm, helping her onto her feet as the group sprinted for the lobby. She looked over her shoulder as Hercules released Cerberus, and darted for Cloud's fallen form. In the stories, Cerberus was the final, and most dangerous of Heracles' Twelve Labors. But what about _this_ Hercules? Had he faced any of the other Twelve Labors?

In the lobby, Gale leaned herself against the wall, furiously pushing her bangs back. She muttered under her breath, repeatedly, "Oh lordy, oh lordy, oh lordy…"

"What was that?!" Sora exclaimed, being the first of the outsiders to recover.

"Cerberus…" Gale squeaked out.

Immediately Sora, Donald, and Goofy stared at her, no doubt wondering how she could have known that. "I read it in a book!"

"Like she said, that was Cerberus," Phil explained. He took a peek out the door, then turned his attention back to the group. "Guardian of the Underworld. Herc should be able to handle him."

As Phil's voice faltered, he took another quick peek out the door. He was not as sure as he was just seconds ago. "Then again…" his voice trailed off. "This doesn't look too good…"

Sora looked up in the direction of the arena. Gale could see his hands ball up at his sides, his face twisted for just a moment. It was all the moment he needed before he walked up to the arena door. "Kid, you're not thinking of entering, are you?!" Phil demanded, his eyes nearly popped straight tout of their sockets.

But Sora did not turn around. "You can decide if I'm hero material or not," he said, his voice was strong, and unwavering. "But I'm not going to sit back when I can help."

"Kid, this isn't a game!" snapped Phil. "This ain't some match. This is for real!"

"I know," Sora said simply as he looked over his shoulder. "So I won't ask you to come with me."

Gale's hands began to feel clammy, and her sweat ran cold. Dang it, Sora! Going out there on his own was going to get him killed. Why did Sora have to be like that? Thoughtful and unassuming. It seemed like his most effective way of defense was to kill a person with kindness.

She was going to regret this.

"S-Sora," Gale forced out, half-jogging up to his side. "Wait. I'm going with you."

"Gale…" his voice trailed off. "I just said I'm not going to ask you to-"

"But you can't face Cerberus alone…"

Sora gave her a small smile. He could see she was scared, her hands were shaking, and her eyes were sunken in. But here she was, willing to help him against Cerberus. "Hey, wait!" Donald shouted, stomping up to the teens.

"You can't do this without us!" added Goofy.

Phil watched the four of them jog out of the lobby. They didn't look like much, but the four of them were either extremely brave, or extremely stupid. Funny how the two often crossed.

Cerberus had Hercules backed into a corner, with Cloud draped over the hero's shoulder. Three sets of teeth bared at the two, until his ears perked up at the sound of four sets of foot-falls caught his attention. His heads turned around, immediately, Hercules stole the opportunity to slip by and get Cloud out of here. Cerberus' red eyes were locked onto the four, each one in their own fighting stance. "Two words of advise for you!" Phil shouted from the sideline. "Attack!"

Gale immediately threw her boomerang in the dog's direction. It did not go where she had hoped. The intent was to hit him in the face, but Gale could only get his necks. Either her arm was not as good as she thought it was, or Cerberus was just too tall.

For the sake of her pride, Gale chose to go for the latter, as Sora, Donald, and Goofy had just as much trouble laying a hit on the dog. With a stroke of luck, Donald was able to land a Blizzard on Cerberus. But then he turned his middle head downward, black smog poured out of it's mouth. Yelping, Sora and Goofy fell back.

"Anyone got any ideas?" Gale called. By now, Cerberus had lifted it's center head, and was prowling around he arena.

"Hit it with your boomerang!" Sora called.

"I can't he's too tall!"

"Not a problem," Goofy said cheerfully.

Gale wasn't quite sure what happened next. One moment she was staring at the roaming Cerberus, trying to figure out what to do. Next moment she was seated on Goofy's shoulders, and trying to keep her balance. "Better?" asked Goofy.

"Uh…" Gale's voice trailed off. When was the last time she was on someone's shoulders like this? It made her feel like a child, and Gale wasn't sure if that was good or bad. But, she could not deny it, her view of Cerberus was pretty good. "Actually yeah. If I could just…"

Rearing her arm back, Gale threw the boomerang at Cerberus. It smacked it's outter left head, which slammed into the center head, then slammed into the outter right head. Cerberus stumbled from left to right, slightly dazed. "Sora, let's go!" Donald shouted, sprinting up to Cerberus.

Sora caught up to Donald in no time. Donald fired two Fire spells, and a Blizzard spell at Cerberus. Sora, with his running start, leapt into the air. He drew his Keyblade back, and slammed it into Cerberus' center head. Sora landed back onto his feet while Cerberus swayed from left to right. He collapsed onto the ground, one of his mouths twitching all the while.

Gale and Goofy cheered, the girl was still seated on Goofy's shoulders. With the danger gone Gale decided she liked being up this high. It was different, it was… it was oddly nostalgic.

"_And up we go, now give it a try."_

"Thus, I do hereby dub thee junior heroes," Phil recited some time after the group relocated in the lobby. Normally the satyr probably would have done this out in the arena, but given the knocked out Cerberus, it was better to do it inside. The four were lined up in front of him as Phil read off of a slip of parchment. "And confer upon thee full rights and privileges to participate in the games. Further-"

"Hey, what do you mean, 'junior heroes?'" Donald interrupted, clearly irritated.

"You rookies still don't understand what it takes to be a true hero," Phil explained; his hands were placed on his hips.

"So, what does it take?" asked Goofy.

"Well," Hercules crossed his arms with a knowing grin. "That's just something you'll have to find out for yourselves. Just the way I did."

"No problem," said Sora. He braced himself against the stone block he failed to move earlier. He pushed, but it hardly moved an inch. "We'll… start by… proving ourselves in the games!"

Gale placed her hands on the block beside Sora and began to push. "Arena's out of commission… I'm sure…" Gale said, pushing against the block.

The block began to budge. Sora looked up to find Donald and Goofy on either side of himself and Gale. "There wasn't any rule about helping, was there?" asked Goofy.

Smiling to himself, Sora continued to push. They slid the block to the opposite side of the room with much ease than any one of them could have on their own. A glow emitted from the floor in the shape of a keyhole. "Well, what do we have here?" Phil asked, a little dumbfounded. How long had that been there?

Sora's Keyblade appeared in his hand. He extended his arms forward; a stream of light darted out of the tip, and into the keyhole. A click was heard before the keyhole disappeared.

"I felt the stirring of power under that block," Hercules told Phil, almost thinking outloud. "I tried moving that block myself, but it wouldn't budge an inch. I think they have a power that can't be achieved by yourself."

Phil tugged at his goatee. Hercules always had the strength of a god, he was the son of Zeus himself, after all. If Hercules himself couldn't move that block… Yeesh!

Clearing his head of such thoughts, Phil approached his latest batch of rookies. "You guy's come back again later," he told them. "Gotta clean up the mess from that last battle."

"Okay," Sora said, thumping his fist against his chest. "We'll be back."

Sora lead the group out of the lobby; they were still celebrating their victory over Cerberus. It was a little odd to Phil. These guys weren't bad, but they were all _clearly_ rookies. They had the skill and knowledge Hercules had when he first came to Phil seeking proper training. Raw talent, but no idea how to use it.

"I still can't believe those rookies actually beat Cerberus," Phil muttered under his breath.

Hercules leaned down to Phil's level, his hand shielded his mouth. "Just between us," the demi-god said in a hushed tone. "I'd already worn down Cerberus before they jumped in."

Okay, now things made sense.

"My lips are sealed," Phil reassured him.

* * *

><p>Their celebrating was killed on the spot when they found Cloud seated in front of the world gates. He looked like he might have been deep in thought. Or maybe he was simply just brooding. "Should we talk to him?" asked Goofy.<p>

"He kinda wiped the floor with us back there," said Gale. "And he was, apparently, working with Hades."

That felt weird saying. The Hades in her stories was a pretty relaxed guy, at least in comparison to the other gods. Someone that preferred to stay out of they messes they caused. His _wife_, on the other hand, was the one to be careful of.

Sora took of ahead of them, and approached Cloud. The spiky haired blond turned his gaze up at him. "Hey," Sora said calmly. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah."

"So, why did you go along with him, anyway?"

"I'm looking for something," said Cloud. His elbows were on his knees, and head slightly rested on his folded hands. "Hades promised to help. I tried to exploit the power of the darkness, but it backfired."

"Clearly," mumbled Gale.

Standing up, Cloud kept his eyes on the clear blue sky. "I fell into darkness," he continued. "And couldn't find the light."

Sora gave him an encouraging smile. "You'll find it," he said, then wrapped one arm around Gale's shoulders, pulling her close to him. "We're searching too."

Why did he have to drag her into this? Gale wasn't searching for anything… Okay, yes, she told Gale she was looking for her non-existent friends, too. What was he thinking, dragging her into this? Gale did not give him permission to do this! Why couldn't he stop making her feel guilty?!

"For your light?" asked Cloud. When Sora nodded, Cloud began to walk in the opposite direction. "Don't lose sight of it."

"Hey!" Sora called after him. "How about a rematch sometime? Fair, and square, no dark powers involved."

Cloud looked over his shoulder for a moment, then ran a hand through his hair. "Think I'll pass."

On the gummi ship, Gale discovered there were at least two sets of spare clothes in each room. Two oversized shirts, and baggy sweatpants. Gale decided to use them as pajamas, figuring that they would be much more comfortable to sleep in then her usual clothes.

One change of clothes later, Gale laid back on her bed with her hands behind her head. Sleeping without her unicorn plush was not going to be fun. If they stopped back in Traverse Town, Gale was going to have to smuggle it out of her bedroom.

"_And up we go, now give it a try."_

Now if only Gale could remember who said that, and why. She knew someone said that to Gale specifically, but she could not think of who. It was really beginning to bug her. Groaning in frustration, Gale rolled over onto her side so that she was facing the wall, her eyes fluttered before they squeezed shut completely.

_The chirping in her hands grew more intents and desperate as little Gale tried to calm the baby bird in her hands. "Shh-shh-shh-shh. Please!" four-year-old Gale begged, nearly dancing in place. "I'm trying, really I am! I'll find a way…"_

_Gale was just walking herself from he library, when she first heard chirping beside a young birch tree. A baby bluebird had fallen from its nest, its mother was nowhere to be found. The little bird alternated between flapping its tiny wings and opening its mouth wide, expecting food at any time. It must have tried flying after its mother._

_The first thing Gale did was hurry to the little fellow and collect it in her hands. She needed to get it back into its nest, but Gale was too little to reach the nest, and the tree was not strong enough to be climbing up. _

_Why did she have to be so small? What if Mrs. Villier's cat had gotten out? The little guy would probably trying to peck its way out of the kitty's stomach. Maybe Gale could raise it… no, Uncle did not allow animals; they got in the way, and shed (or in the bird's case; molted)._

_The impatient chirping continued, it was enough to get Gale to start crying. She was not full out sobbing, yet, but muffled hiccups managed to escape while tears dripped out of her eyes. "Hey, Shorty," Gale heard, someone, male, was squatting down beside her to meet her eye level. "You okay?"_

_Gale sniffed before she shook her head. She guided her hands forward, showing the stranger the bird. "Ah…" the stranger said with a slight click of the tongue._

"_I can't… I can't take it home… Daddy and… and Uncle… won't allow it…" Gale said between hiccups. _

"_Isn't that quite a pickle," said the stranger. He studied the tree for a moment, sure enough, there was a nest tucked safely between two branches, and the trunk. "And you don't want to take the little guy away from its mama, do you?"_

_Gale shook her head again with a force that caused her hair to flail about. "B-But I can't reach…" she said pitifully. _

_She gasped when the stranger forced her to turn around, then placed his hands under her arms. "And up we go," said the stranger. He stood up, taking Gale with him, he lifted her above his head, just under the birds nest. "Now give it a try."_

_Wide-eyed, Gale stretched her arms and slowly placed the little bird into the nest. The little girl cried out as the stranger lifted her further above his head, and seated her on his shoulders. Gale was fearful at first, afraid she would fall over, even though the stranger kept a hand on her ankle. But at the same time, she was really excited, never had she been up this high before. _

"_Why don't we wait a few moments," the stranger suggested. "See if its mama comes back soon."_

"_Uh-huh," nodded Gale._

* * *

><p><strong>Authors Note: <strong>To briefly explain, _Hera_cles is Greek, Hercules is Roman.

Reminder about my tumblr blog **sammiewritesstuff**, where I'll be happy to answer any question, and eventually post tidbits, updates, and other goodies.


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